"I couldn't save her": Husband's heartbreaking warning against weight loss drugs
A grieving father has issued a desperate plea against using weight loss drugs after his wife passed away from possible side effects just months into her treatment.
Roy Webster told 60 Minutes that his wife Trish simply wanted to lose weight before their daughter's wedding, so she decided to take Ozempic - a drug which was originally designed to treat diabetes, but is now being prescribed as a weight loss drug.
The 56-year-old mother lost 16 kilos from taking Ozempic and another weight loss drug, Saxenda, but she was also frequently ill and in January "something went seriously wrong".
"I couldn't save her, that's the hard part," Webster said.
"If I knew that could happen, she wouldn't have been taking it."
The heartbroken Aussie father added that his wife tragically passed away in his arms.
"She had a little bit of brown stuff coming out of her mouth and I realised she wasn't breathing, and started doing CPR," he said.
"It was just pouring out and I turned her onto the side because she couldn't breathe."
Trish's death certificate reveals that her cause of death was an acute gastrointestinal illness, although there isn't a direct link to weight loss drugs, Webster believes that they contributed to his wife's death.
"I never thought you could die from it," he warned other Aussies.
In the same interview with 60 Minutes, Endocrinologist Dr Kathryn William, said that there's "growing evidence the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic can cause digestive complications."
"When we prescribe them, we warn people," she said.
"So if I say to someone, 'yes, it might be that you do vomit once or twice, but if you are having recurrent vomiting, you need to let me know and you need to stop the medication'."
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia is investigating local cases and encourages people like Webster to report their concerns.
Webster also reportedly wants a coronial inquest to examine his wife's death.
"She shouldn't be gone, you know," he said. "It's just not worth it, it's not worth it at all."
Image: 60 Minutes