Romania Mum Dies After Weight Fight

[Raistlin]

Victoria Lacatus, who was obese, has died

A 25-year-old Romanian woman who weighed 528 pounds (240 kilograms) when she gave birth to a baby girl more than five months ago, has died, according to reports.

Relatives of Victoria Lacatus said she died of a heart attack on Sunday after developing a high fever and breathing problems.

Doctors from Craiova hospital in southern Romania said Lacatus's heart stopped. Hospital manager Florin Petrescu said doctors tried to resuscitate Lacatus for 30 minutes, a task made difficult because of her extreme obesity.

After she gave birth by caesarean section to a 6.4lbs (2.9kg) baby girl on February 18, Lacatus gained another 44lbs (20kg), her sister Cristina Sosoiu told the daily Libertatea. Doctors had told Lacatus to go on a diet but she apparently kept eating, the paper reported.

Her daughter, Anisoara, currently weighs just a little over 9lbs (4kg), the paper said. She lives with her maternal grandmother.

It is not clear why the baby does not live with her father, Costica Lacatus.

Lacatus fell ill with a fever last week and was taken to hospital in her home town of Caracal in southern Romania before she was moved to the main regional hospital where she died.

When Lacatus gave birth, Dr Daghni Rasasingham, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London said the case was rare, given the mother's weight and height of 5ft 3ins.

Rasasingham said she would be at risk of clots, diabetes, post-birth bleeding and infection.

Nicolae Cernea, a doctor from the southern city of Craiova - where Lacatus was in hospital for a month before delivery - said her case was unique in Romania.

In August 2008, a heavier obese woman - 560-pound (255-kilogram) Leanne Salt - gave birth to triplets in Britain.