Lawyer: Half-ton woman in talks for documentary

EDINBURG - A nearly half-ton woman accused of killing her nephew earlier this year is negotiating with a documentary film crew interested in telling her story.

An attorney for Mayra Rosales, 27, confirmed Monday that Austin-based production company Megalomedia, Inc. has approached his client to discuss filming of a possible television feature.

At least two other documentary outlets are also courting the woman, defense attorney Sergio Valdez said.

"She has not signed any contracts," he said. "There has been some discussion of getting her the help she needs."

Rosales, who suffers from a rare thyroid condition that has pushed her weight to more than 800 pounds, has remained confined to her Sullivan City home since sheriff's deputies arrested her March 26. She has repeatedly denied interview requests from local media.

Representatives from Megalomedia did not return calls for comment on the TV production. And Valdez declined to discuss any potential agreement with the company, saying his client had not yet entered into formal negotiations.

But a documentary producer present at a Monday court hearing said the company had offered initial terms to Rosales.

HALF-TON EMPIRE
Megalomedia, an independent production company that has sold its films to British television stations and the U.S. cable network The Learning Channel, established itself producing documentaries on subjects who suffer from extreme morbid obesity.

Its production Half Ton Mum -- which told the tale of 841-pound Austin woman, Renee Williams -- earned blockbuster ratings when it aired on a television station in the United Kingdom.

Williams allowed film crews to follow her as she prepared to undergo bariatric - or gastric bypass - surgery in February 2007, an operation that more than a dozen doctors had told her was too risky because of her weight.

Houston-based surgeon Dr. Youdan Nowzaradan, father of Megalomedia CEO Jonathan Nowzaradan, eventually agreed to perform the surgery, predicting she would lose up to 650 pounds in three years.

Williams died from a massive heart attack two weeks after the procedure.

MIXED RECORD
While it remains unclear what - if anything - Megalomedia has offered Rosales, her attorney said he hopes that she will receive the medical help she needs should the project go forward.

But doctors and law enforcement officials described using the documentary to get bypass surgery or other needed medical attention as unethical and potentially dangerous.

Bariatric surgeons across the country generally agree that operating on someone weighing more than 350 pounds is risky. The invasive procedure could endanger the patient.

Dr. Nowzaradan, however, has earned a reputation for operating on extremely morbidly obese people that other doctors have turned away. His results have been mixed.

The death of Half Ton Mum's Williams last year, prompted the mother of another patient to file a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of her daughter.

Tina Shepherd, who died of blood poisoning and liver damaging after undergoing surgery with Nowzaradan, was not adequately warned of the risks involved in the surgery for a woman of her 520-pound weight, her mother says in the lawsuit.

But several other patients of Dr. Nowzaradan, who are also subjects of Megalomedia documentaries, have so-far survived their surgeries unscathed.

Kenneth Brumley - who appeared in the documentary Half Ton Dad - dropped from 1,035 pounds to 500 in the months after his surgery.

Dr. Nowzaradan did not return calls for comment Monday.

‘IT DOESN'T LOOK RIGHT'
More troubling, prosecutors said, is the perception that any deal with a documentary company could allow Rosales to profit from her nephew's death.

"All I have to say is that it doesn't look good," Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said.

Rosales' attorney Valdez maintains that such ethical questions will have to be addressed before a final agreement is made.

Investigators believe she struck 2-year-old Eliseo Gonzalez multiple times, inflicting the multiple skull fractures and bruises that eventually caused his death.

Rosales has denied intentionally hurting her nephew and suggested his injuries were inflicted before the child came to her house on March 18.

She currently faces charges of capital murder and injury to a child and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

Her sister - Jamie Rosales, 20 - has been indicted on one count of injury to a child for allegedly leaving Eliseo with Mayra Rosales even though she knew the woman weight made her incapable of caring for him.

Both women have entered not guilty pleas and are expected to go to trial next year.