A local surgery center has offered to donate a drastic operation that doctors say a 420-pound boy needs for a chance at a healthy life.

Brandon Bennett is so big that he is not allowed aboard the rides at Astroworld, and his school, Clear Lake High, routinely sends him home because of high blood pressure and elevated heart rate.

The 16-year-old was scheduled to have a gastric bypass at Texas Children's Hospital this month until hospital officials discovered that his insurance company did not cover the procedure.

"This young man desperately needs this surgery," said Laurie Cantrell, bariatric program director at Bariatric Surgery Specialists, the facility that will donate the surgery.

Cantrell said the facility contacted Brandon 's family Tuesday after an article in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday detailed his health problems.

`Finally going to happen'

Pending a final medical review of Brandon 's records, she said, Dr. Robert Marvin and an anesthesiologist have agreed to donate their time to perform the surgery at Houston Community Hospital. The surgery typically costs about $25,000 but can reach $100,000 if there are complications.

Bariatric Surgery Specialists has done about 230 gastric bypasses in the last two years, Cantrell said, but never on an adolescent.

Brandon 's father, Michael Bennett , said he has confidence in a surgical team experienced in adult surgery because his son has the physiology of a grown man. Brandon is 6-foot-2.

"I can't believe this is finally going to happen," Michael Bennett said. "I didn't know people like this existed in the world. This is wonderful."

The surgery is scheduled for the first week of November.

By electing to have the procedure done at a community hospital, Brandon will leave a study Texas Children's is conducting to test the safety and effectiveness of gastric bypass surgery in adolescents and to create new guidelines for who should have the procedure.

Until very recently, the operation, which carries a death rate of up to 1 percent, was considered taboo by pediatricians. Their attitude has changed as the problem of childhood obesity has worsened.

As the costly surgical procedure has become more popular in adults and children, insurance companies are beginning to end their coverage, saying that keeping it in their general policies would make rates prohibitive.

Heading to court

Cantrell said her facility, as well as other gastric bypass providers around the country, is working with a "high profile" lawyer to initiate a class-action lawsuit against insurance companies.

Insurance companies say they prefer to wait for more evidence the surgeries are truly beneficial for patients and are cost effective .

"There are ways to solve the issues and challenges that face us in the health care industry without going through the court system," said Mohit Ghose, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans.

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