DETROIT -- A newly available form of weight-reduction surgery is in an unwelcome spotlight after the death of a woman who served on the Detroit City Council.

BRENDA SCOTT (1954-2002) Hear From Detroit City Council President Staff Member: Scott Was Loved By City

Brenda Scott died last week from an infection caused by a stomach perforation. The Wayne, Mich., County medical examiner classified the cause of death as an accident caused by a condition called peritonitis.

Scott's death came three days after she underwent a procedure called Lap-Band Adjustable Gastric Banding. The procedure usually requires five or six incisions to implant an adjustable ring around the stomach. Patients usually go home the next day.

The device is designed to induce weight loss by restricting food consumption. It is produced by INAMED Corp., based in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Scott's stomach lining became infected, according to the medical examiner's autopsy. Doug Trigg, spokesman for INAMED, said that Scott's post-operative death was the first since the procedure was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001.

Trigg said the death rate worldwide has been extremely low -- about 0.005 percent.

The procedure has been performed on nearly 90,000 people in other countries over the past nine years. It's less invasive than other weight-reduction surgical options -- including stomach stapling and gastric bypass.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who once represented Dr. Jack Kevorkian, said that he has been hired by Scott's family to "bring appropriate legal proceedings against those responsible for her untimely death."

Fieger said two autopsies showed perforations in Scott's stomach. And according to Feiger, there's no other way the holes could have occurred except in surgery.

Additional Resource:

• Information from the Food and Drug Administration