Atkins widow furious at leaked obesity report of husband

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 10 Feb 2004 - 0:00 PST

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Dr. Robert Atkins, according to medical reports, was fat when he died. His widow is angry at a newspaper report that said her husband was obese when he died.

The report came out in the Wall Street Journal. She said the paper distorted a medical examiner's report (the source of its information).

Dr. Atkins slipped on an icy sidewalk (UK: pavement). He suffered severe head injuries. He was in coma for a while and was then taken off life support.

According to the medical report (says Wall Street Journal) Atkins weighed 258 pounds at the time of death. If one takes into account his height (6 feet tall), he was clinically obese.

The Wall Street Journal went on to say that Dr. Atkins also had a history of heart disease and heart attacks.

Add this all up and we have a man who was fat and had a bad heart (according to the newspaper's information).

Mrs. Atkins (and Dr. Stuart Trager, Atkins Physicians Council) accused the newspaper of obtaining the medical report illegally. The newspaper has declined to comment.

Trager says that at the time of his accident he weight under 200 pounds. He says Atkins put on all the weight while he was in coma.

'During his coma, as he deteriorated and his major organs failed, fluid retention and bloating dramatically distorted his body and left him at 258 pounds at the time of his death, a documented weight gain of over 60 pounds. How and why the Journal reported that he was obese remains the only unanswered question in this pathetic situation.' Said Trager.

Dr. Atkins had previously said that his heart condition was due to a viral condition, not his diet.

Mrs. Atkins said, 'Let me state emphatically that I have been assured by my husband's physicians that my husband's health problems late in life were completely unrelated to his diet or any diet'.

Another medical expert said that it is hard to believe that someone in coma can put on 60 pounds. A comatose patient would normally put on 10 pounds at the most.

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