Obese mother who refused to stop eating after having gastric bypass choked to death on food that couldn't fit into her stomach

  • Dianne Cooper-Clarke told her family she had undergone surgery for cancer when she had a gastric bypass
  • She managed to eat less for around a year after the surgery
  • A backlog of food had built all the way to the throat
PUBLISHED: 10:06 GMT, 14 June 2012 | UPDATED:14:22 GMT, 14 June 2012
During a gastric bypass a portion of the stomach is stapled together to form a new smaller stomach
During a gastric bypass a portion of the stomach is stapled together to form a new smaller stomach
An obese mother who carried on eating too much after gastric bypass surgery suffocated on food which couldn't fit into her stomach, an inquest heard.
Dianne Bernadette Cooper-Clarke, 64, died after food clogged her throat and stopped her from breathing.
She had undergone gastric bypass surgery but kept it secret from her family and started eating too much after the operation.
Her oesophagus swelled to the size of a normal stomach and food built up all the way to her throat, causing her to suffocate, an inquest in Truro, Cornwall, heard.
She was found dead in her home in Barripper, a village in west Cornwall, on December 9 last year.
Pathologist Hugh Jones, from the Royal Cornwall Hospital, carried out a post-mortem examination and said a back-log of food had stopped her breathing.
'The tube that goes from the mouth to the stomach was swollen and food had built up all the way to the throat' he said.
'There was too much food in there. Doctors found no evidence of cancer and experts confirmed the gastric operation was carried out properly.
 

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'A gastric pouch reduces the stomach. People get round this by making their oesophagus bigger.
'That's where the food was staying. I think they eat a tiny bit and think it goes somewhere, so they'll have a little bit more, and it's a longstanding thing.
'Your oesophagus is the size of a little finger, but hers was as big as her stomach.
'I considered the food had blocked off her breathing and that was the cause of death.'
A gastric bypass operation: It reduces the stomach to a small pouch the size of a thumb
A gastric bypass operation: It reduces the stomach to a small pouch the size of a thumb
Gastric bypass surgery reduces the stomach to a small pouch the size of a thumb.
Originally from Trinidad in the West Indies, Mrs Cooper-Clarke told her family that she had undergone surgery for cancer in March 2010 when she had in fact had a gastric bypass to reduce the size of her stomach.
She told her son Yvan Clarke that she had surgery on her legs - but he told the inquest that 'deep down' he knew this was not the case.
'For at least a year she was eating less,' he said. 
'Throughout that time I thought she was very closely monitoring it.'
The inquest heard that the gastric bypass had a 'massive impact' on her weight and had reduced her BMI and blood pressure.
Mrs Cooper-Clarke's GP, Dr Hugh Fairlie, said in a statement that she was the fittest she had ever been before her death and was due to travel to Trinidad for three months.
He said: 'By November she was as fit as I had seen her apart from the depression.'
In a narrative verdict, deputy coroner Andrew Cox said: 'People do not stick to it [eating less] and this is tragically what happens.
'This is not a natural cause of death. It is not an accident because she chose to eat. She died of a known complication of an elective surgical procedure of a gastric bypass.'

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This is pretty much proof that obesity can be due to a psychological illness. No one would actually want to literally choke on food. RIP.
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Why put yourself through the trauma of a gastric band operation only to carry on over-eating afterwards? I really don't understand this.
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- stephybee, milton keynes, 14/6/2012 7:56 She didn't try to help herself. She had an operation instead.
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Which is why we should stop operating on the obese. Better to be disgustingly obese because you eat like a pig and die from related illnesses than waste NHS money on having a gastric band, still eat like a pig and suffocate on your own half digested food. A gastric band doesn't mean you can eat what you want so you have to be determined to change your dietry habits. And if you are determined to change, you don't need a bypass you can do it without invasive surgery. The problem today is that people are led to believe they are incapable of doing things on their own and many will actually put on weight to fill the critera needed to get a band fitted 'cos they think they have a right to it and they don't see why they should diet and move their fat backsides if there is an easier way to lose weight. Make anyone who wants gastric surgery pay for it and people will start eating correctly again, like they did in the 60's and 70's.
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So this poor woman actually eat herself to death!
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Add omega 3, 6 and 9 (essential fatty acids) found in hemp, flax seed and extra virgin olive oils (unheated and cold pressed), along with unrefined Cocos Nucifera oil (look on web) and trace minerals. Everyone needs omega 3,6 and 9 along with trace minerals founds in nuts/seeds and fresh fruit and vegetables. Eating (non GM) brown rice is good too (spouted brown rice is better). Avoid wheat as the wheat germ (endosperm) causes hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) as well as damaging intestinal lining and prevents nutrient being absorbed. Cows milk is also best avoided where possible as it causes bloating diarrhoea as well as other health problems. Research alternatives to formula/cows milk online. Avoid soy made using solvents or hexane, aspartame, MSG, mercury, fluoride, aluminium and vaccines.
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Organic/vegan diet, & NO red/white meats & NO PROCESSED MEAT. Avoid Genetically Modified food (GM food). Reduce exposure to pesticides/herbicides. Avoid gluten/wheat, no dairy products, increase raw food intake, avoid microwaved food. Avoid alcohol/tobacco, endocrine disruptors Bisphenol, PFOA, phthalates, fluoride, mercury, MSG (including colours/colouring, flavours/flavouring, yeast extract - look 'msg' on web). Avoid hydrogenated fats/oils, aspartame, nutrasweet, artificial sweeteners, HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup/Glucose Fructose Syrup), avoid nonstick cookware. Reduce heat to plastic use metal (not aluminium), glass, wood, ceramic to cook, prepare food/drinks in. Check levels of folic acid, B12 & vitamin D and correct (Vitashine Vegan D3 ok by vegan society) or use fish oils. Look up natural weight-loss foods on web. Eat raw fruit with veg, brown rice and curry spices/pepper and cinnamon.Get enough Vitamin C, try bicarbonate of soda, use sea salt, Sleep well. Use hemp seed/oil
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Unfortunately compulsive over-eating is not recognised as a disorder in the same way as compulsive under-eating (Anorexia Nervosa), yet they are two sides of the same coin. This may be because we live in a culture obsessed with successful dieting which tends to be more sympathetic to Anorexia sufferers in comparison with obese people who simply ''have no willpower''. This was a terrible way to die, and clearly Mrs Cooper-Clarke was in the grip of an obsessive need to eat that she simply could not control. Gastric surgery was not the best option for her with the psychological dependence she had on overeating. Sadly, since she chose to keep the process a secret from those closest to her, the opportunity to sound out a desperately needed second opinion may have been ignored. We would never tell an Anorexia sufferer to ''stop moaning and eat more'', and it is about time we took overeating disorders just as seriously as Anorexia Nervosa.
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This is terrible and those poor children have lost their mother , i dont care who you are or what you do but every single person out there has an addiction to something this lady's addiction was no different to a drug addict being hooked on heroin , heroin addicts nearly die and get huge ulcers , loose limbs ect but still carry on because of the comfort the drug gives them this lady was no different i think she should have been better assesed from a mental health poi t of view and given a gastric band instead so that if she was noncompliant it could have been removed
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If only that lady had been offered therapy for her depression she might have managed to stay healthy. She obviously wanted to lose the weight and get healthy but had psychological issues.
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