'My 600-lb Life': Here's a look at Dr Nowrazadan's controversial career, including a lawsuit for malpractice
Dr Nowzaradan, popularly known as Dr Now, is undoubtedly the star of 'My 600-lb Life'. He's known to take in the likes of people who have been turned away by other medical practitioners because of their excessive weight, giving them hope and helping them live another day.
Dr Now delivers the grimmest of facts with a straight face but audiences still find it funny. He's also known for his one-line advice to patients that people find outright funny, like when he told Samantha Mason that she can easily survive the next four years without food because she has consumed enough for surviving.
He also has a peculiar way of talking that makes everything he says a little more enjoyable to listen to. These are a couple of fun facts about him that everyone knows by now, but there are some aspects about the surgeon that are outright controversial and a subject for worry. Continue reading to know more.
Dr Now's first TV gig 'World's Heaviest Woman' ended in tragedy
Dr Now got his first TV gig after his son Jonathan established a production company called Megalomedia and produced the show 'World's Heaviest Woman'. The show highlighted the journey of Renee Williams, an 841-pound woman. Dr Now agreed to work with her to help her lose weight after 14 doctors turned her away, stating she's a lost cause. He operated on her and it was a successful gastric bypass surgery. But she suffered a fatal heart attack within the next 12 days and lost her life. Her struggles became a part of a documentary called 'Half-ton Mom' which released in the United Kingdom, produced by Jonathan. The father-son duo then developed 'Last Chance to Live' which then evolved into 'My 600-lb Life', according to a Monagiza report.
A lawsuit slapped on Dr Now by his patient Michelle Park
Dr Now and his anesthesiologist were both slapped with a lawsuit in 2012 for medical malpractice by their patient Michelle Park. She alleged that a seven-inch tubing was left inside her body during her gastric band surgery which she discovered only two years after undergoing the procedure. It was later found that Park dropped the lawsuit for unknown reasons.
The time when Colleen Shepherd sued Dr Now for causing her daughter Tina's death
Dr Now was sued for allegedly causing a patient's death in 2007. Colleen Shepherd sued Dr Now after her daughter Tina died following gastric bypass surgery. In 2012, his patient's wife too tried to sue him for similar reasons. However, Dr Now denied both claims, and the lawsuits were dropped.
Samantha Mason's claims of being exploited by Dr Now
"I also want to say, I found my own surgeons and I've never been in the same state as Dr Nowzarden. I was exploited without even the help from the surgeon himself (which is fine — I like my surgeon lots better)," Samantha wrote on her social media page, according to a Reddit user, after appearing on the show threatening that an expose is due in the future. She's not the only one alleging that Dr Now isn't as hands-on as seen on the show but another patient, Cynthia Wells, too, had claimed that she saw the doctor only during filming and it was a different doctor who worked with her behind the scenes.
'My 600-lb Life' airs on Wednesday at 8 pm ET on TLC.