A man in Australia has claimed that his wife died from the popular weight loss drug Ozempic, which she had been taking to slim down for their daughter’s wedding.
Ozempic, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people with Type 2 diabetes, has become a popular weight loss drug all over the world. In Australia, 56-year-old Trish Webster had been taking the drug to fit into her desired dress for her daughter’s wedding before she died of gastrointestinal illness. Though it remains inconclusive, the husband has insisted that Ozempic caused her death.
Woman dies after taking Ozempic to slim down for daughter’s wedding: ‘She shouldn’t be gone’ https://t.co/N6nWim0vUF pic.twitter.com/3CkJ5uImgN
— New York Post (@nypost) November 8, 2023
“The drug works by mimicking a natural hormone, GLP-1, which slows down the passage of food through the stomach and intestines, making people feel full longer,” noted the New York Post. “Problems arise if the drug slows down the stomach too much or blocks the intestines.”
“Intestinal blockage is called ‘ileus’ — the FDA received 18 reports of it in people taking Ozempic as of late September,” the report added.
Webster had been taking Ozempic with the prescription injection Saxenda and lost a whopping 35 pounds in five months, according to Au.com. Ahead of her daughter’s wedding, her husband, Roy Webster, found her unconscious with a brown liquid seeping from her mouth.
“She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth, and I realized she wasn’t breathing and started doing CPR,” he told 60 Minutes Australia last week. “It was just pouring out, and I turned her onto the side because she couldn’t breathe.”
Her cause of death was listed as gastrointestinal illness.
“If I knew that could happen, she wouldn’t have been taking it,” he said. “I never thought you could die from it.”
Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk said that claims of ileus were reported after its “post-marketing setting.”
“Some experts have warned that Ozempic and similar medications have not been available long enough to study the long-term effects — including suicide concerns — and are likely being misused by some as a quick way to shed a few pounds,” the Post noted.
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