Horrid AN treatment on Lena Zavaroni
Pam
It's difficult to understand much at all from reading the papers. I just
remember reading about this at the time and, altho' all the newspapers
concentrated on her anorexia, her parents, friends, the hospital etc, all
insisted that she had asked for this operation specifically for really
severe DEPRESSION. Lena didn't think the anorexia was a problem (tho it
clearly was) but couldn't cope with the depression.
I agree that the operation should not have been carried, whether for
depression or any other reason, but I'm pretty sure the hospital wasn't
trying to cure anorexia by it.
Pam
philosophy wrote in message <389AB5...@ricochet.net>...
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>hey where was i when this gossip came out? huh connie :)
>they did a leukotomy on Lena Zavaroni in Wales?
>how horrid. they should do a lobotomy on that psych who recommended
>this. close down this damned Univ of Wales hospital.
>they used a "dangerous and experimental" procedure. pissed.
>
ClixPix
posted a couple of times, at least, about the situation at the time. Unlike
most of you younger people, I actually remember Lena in her heyday when she
came out with her version of the song "Ma, He's Making Eyes at Me," which
became a huge hit here in the States as well in the UK.
Unfortunately she paid the price for that early childhood stardom... It
sounds as though she had quite a struggle with both depression and anorexia.
By the way, Lena was also a former patient of Montreux.... she was there for
a while and then left the program, so guess they couldn't help her, either.
Thanks for the article -- that was interesting, one that I hadn't seen about
Lena. I'd seen the articles which came out at the time about the leucotomy
procedure with illustrations showing where they cut, etc. It sounds pretty
risky and drastic to me, and I sure wouldn't want someone doing this
procedure on me!
As Pam says, Lena was more concerned about her intractable and deep
depression than she was about the anorexia, and wanted this controversial
procedure to alleviate that severe depression. Actually, her weight, while
low, wasn't all that bad when you consider that she was only about 4'10 or
4'11. The depression, apparently, was quite crippling and she wanted to do
anything to get some relief from it.
--Connie
--
"Starving the flesh wastes the spirit."
--Kandis Elliot
Aria
actually died as a result of pneumonia
aria
Happiness isn't the absence of problems, it's solving them!
ClixPix
[about Lena Zavaroni]
>like sending her back to MONTREUX..?
Nope. Lena wouldn't have gone, she would have flat-out refused. She left
Montreux because of the force feeding and other treatment she received at
their hands. She was mentioned in the hearings on Montreux this past
summer, too, her situation being one of the ones which had prompted
investigation and inquiries in the first place. To put it mildly, she was
not happy with the program or the treatment she received there.
Lea15
attend, they do a couple a year still. there are medical indications for
surgeries like that-usually seizures that can't be controlled with
medications-sometimes even depression. personally-ain't no one going to
cutting into my brain!!!!!
Ros
Ros
ClixPix
>Oh, and just because she left Montreux doesn't mean they couldn't
>help her. Maybe she left because she was afraid of the Tx. Maybe
>she left because she was homesick. Maybe she couldn't afford the
>Tx.
About Lena and Montreux: I don't think she was homesick! Nor was it a case
of not being able to afford the clinic. Afraid of the Tx? Undoubtedly. As
I mentioned in another post on this topic, she left the clinic because of
the force-feeding and other methods of treatment; in the documents from the
hearing of last summer, Lena was specifically mentioned, as hers was one of
the situations which prompted the investigation and inquiry into Montreux.
Toeshuz also wrote:
[spoilering here for discussion involving weights and numbers]
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
>You're kidding?! You don't think that someone weighing 50 pounds
>at the height of 4'10" or 4' 11" is dangerously low?
>My guess is that you have lost perspective on what is dangerous.
>Remember, someone can be 5' and weigh 90 pounds and be in danger
>or they can weigh 70 pounds and be in danger.
Oops, sorry! Guess I should've done some math on the calculator before I
wrote what I did... unfortunately, math is not my strong suit! Yes, 50
pounds at a height of 4'10 IS dangerously low, around 10.47% BMI and about
45% under IBW. For some reason, at first thought, envisioning 4'10 at 50
pounds, that height/weight ratio didn't strike me as frighteningly low
because I know someone who is several inches taller who is around that
weight. Upon reflection and whipping out the calculator, indeed I see that
it IS problematic.
I think I have become somewhat jaded, due to my long experience with
anorexia, and because of having friends who are on the critical edge. But,
yes, someone can actually weight 130 pounds at 5'6, seemingly "normal," and
yet be in critical danger as well, as this disorder does involve more than
just the weight. Someone who is b/p countless times per day, regardless of
his or her weight, is definitely going to be in a critical health situation.
Someone who is actively restricting their intake is endangering him/herself
even further if there are other physiological issues such as thyroid
problems, diabetes, etc. Again, weight might not reflect what is REALLY
going on. Someone who is restricting extensively and escalating their ED
behaviors in a short time period also may be doing far more serious damage
to the body than someone who, while at low weight, is relatively stabilized
with regard to intake and behaviors and has been for a sustained time
period. Yes, there are a lot of factors to be considered here.
And, of course "ideal" or "normal" weight itself can greatly vary from
individual to individual, depending upon bone structure and other factors.
Two people who are exactly the same height may have very different
requirements for a healthy weight.
EARS WlTH FEET
>>Happiness isn't the absence of problems, it's solving them!
>
}:}i{:{
Ears
Healing takes courage and we all have courage,
even if we have to dig a little to find it.
-Tori Amos
desides
Aria wrote:
>
> Its true about the brain surgery, it came out when she died and she then
> actually died as a result of pneumonia
> aria
philosophy
>
> the scary part is that lobotomies, etc. are still done.
yes, i hear it works for ocd too?
> personally-ain't no one going to > cutting into my brain!!!!!
i guess if i were THAT desperate i would. hmmm maybe lena was that
desperate too?
me thinks they should perform a lobotomy on bill gates and give one
brain cell each to humankind. the same way they're splitting up
microsoft. then maybe we'll all have new windows to life..ver.6.9.
desides
don't know is that she loved Peggy and the others at the clinic. To bad
you can't read the letters we always received from Lena while she went
back home. Lena was a dear to me. I was her teamleader and when I
heard she had died it broke my heart but I also was relieved that she
didn't have to suffer no more.
ClixPix wrote:
>
> Philosophy wrote:
>
> [about Lena Zavaroni]
> >like sending her back to MONTREUX..?
>
> Nope. Lena wouldn't have gone, she would have flat-out refused. She left
> Montreux because of the force feeding and other treatment she received at
> their hands. She was mentioned in the hearings on Montreux this past
> summer, too, her situation being one of the ones which had prompted
> investigation and inquiries in the first place. To put it mildly, she was
> not happy with the program or the treatment she received there.
>
ClixPix
9 December, 1999
The final tragic ultimatum of child star Lena
BY ALUN REES
THE last sad days of former child star Lena Zavaroni were revealed
yesterday.
Lying in a hospital bed after brain surgery she begged to have in a last
desperate bid to cure depression, her four-stone body succumbed to
infection.
An inquest heard the girl who had the world at her feet after finding fame
by
winning Opportunity Knocks in the Seventies had threatened to take her own
life unless she had the operation to cure her of the depression that haunted
her.
As she recovered from the surgery it appeared to have been successful, with
the 35-year-old talking of a return to the stage just two days before she
died.
However, Lena weighed just five stone at the time of her operation due to a
22-year battle against the slimmers' disease anorexia nervosa. Her weight
fell by a fifth afterwards and she developed bronchial pneumonia and died
less than four weeks after the operation, her body - weakened by long-term
malnutrition - too frail to put up a fight.
Neurosurgeon Brian Simpson carried out the procedure at Cardiff's University
Hospital of Wales.
He told the inquest how Lena was recovering after initially being "very
withdrawn" after the operation. "She came out of it, was no longer confused
and was brighter in herself," said Mr Simpson.
"She was making eye contact with people, asking the nurses about their
families and talking to her family and friends about her future. She was
asking if I thought there was any chance of her going back on stage and she
was beginning to see a future for herself."
But the Cardiff inquest heard the lung infection took hold and Lena's body
succumbed. Members of her family quizzed the surgeon why doctors did not
allow Lena to put on extra weight before she underwent the keyhole surgery.
Mr Simpson replied: "Lena was desperate to have the surgery - she saw it as
her only hope and she had had a year to get fit before the operation. Even
if
we had been able to increase her weight it would not have made any
difference
because she was suffering from long-term malnutrition.
"She had already taken a drug overdose and she convinced me that if she did
not have the operation she was going to kill herself. She also said if the
operation failed she would kill herself. I asked her, 'Suppose it does not
work' and she said, 'Then there is nothing left for me'."
The inquest heard that Lena had previously undergone electric shock
treatment
and taken drugs in unsuccessful attempts to beat her depression. The
hospital
was first contacted a year before the operation by Lena's friend, Ray
Dexter.
The 90-minute procedure - known as a capsulotomy - involves altering nerve
tracks from one part of the brain to another using electrodes.
Mr Simpson said the operation was regarded as minor with 36 having been
performed at the hospital.
"She was getting better and it was a surprise when she went down with the
chest infection," he told the hearing. "The following morning she seemed
better but then she worsened very rapidly. Malnutrition could have affected
her ability to fight the infection.
"She was being treated for a depressive disorder and not her eating
disorder.
She said she had learned to live with her anorexia for 22 years but could
not
live with the increasing torment and suffering from her depressive illness.
She felt totally desperate - she had no feelings and felt she had no
future."
Pathologist Dr James Neill told the inquest that the lung infection was
unlikely to have been related to the operation. Cardiff coroner Dr Lawrence
Addicott, recording a verdict that Lena died from natural causes, said: "She
knew the risks and still insisted the operation should go ahead.
"She lost 20 per cent of her body weight after the operation which did not
help her ability to fight the infection. I cannot link her death to the
operation."
Lena's sister Carla, 37, and her father Victor, 60, listened intently to the
evidence at the hearing. They were both clearly distressed as they left
after
the verdict.
Carla composed herself briefly to say: "I cannot understand the verdict - I
don't see how you cannot link the operation with Lena's death."
The hospital where Lena had her operation in October is one of the UK's
premier teaching hospitals and is at the leading edge of research and
medical
technology.
A hospital spokesman said after the hearing: "We are deeply saddened by Miss
Zavaroni's tragic and unexpected death. Physically the operation was a
relatively minor procedure and Miss Zavaroni came through it without
difficulty. There were signs it may have been successful when she developed
a
chest infection which tragically overwhelmed her despite treatment."
Lena was born on the Isle of Bute in Scotland and shot to stardom at the age
of nine on Hughie Green's talent show in 1974. She had developed an eating
disorder by the time she was 13 and at one time her weight fell to 3st
12lb.In 1989 she wed Peter Wiltshire but the marriage foundered just two
years later. Before going in to hospital Lena was living in a council flat
in
Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, surviving on £48.80 state handouts and help from
the showbusiness charity, The Water Rats.
© Express Newspapers, 1999
ClixPix
>then maybe we'll all have new windows to life..ver.6.9.
Hee, hee, ROTFL!!! Of course, we'll all have to keep going in for
"critical updates," as bugs and unfortunate security loopholes are
discovered in our systems...
--Connie
tayl...@my-deja.com
This may be slightly off-topic, as it's not strictly AN-related, but
I've set up a discussion group on OneList devoted specifically to Lena.
It's not just for discussing her illness - there wasn't a place on the
Internet for people to talk about LZ, share thoughts/news, swap
records, etc. So I thought I would create one. Nevertheless, AN is
obviously not off-topic.
The URL is: http://www.onelist.com/group/lena_z
To subscribe, e-mail to: lena_z-s...@onelist.com
There are currently no members, as I have only just created it. But I
thought I would mention it here, as there seems a chance that some of
you may be interested.
If that's not the case, then I apologize.
Paul
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.