Gastric Bypass Surgery

As thousands of overweight Americans turn to gastric bypass surgery as a method of combating obesity, research suggests that inexperienced surgeons are corrupting this surgical field. Surgeons are hyping laparoscopic as a safer alternative to traditional invasive surgery, but with this lack of expertise, surgeons have a long way to go before patients should have total confidence in the procedure.

According to research, physicians who have completed less than 70 gastric bypass operations witness more complications, and their patients have a greater chance of dying as a result of those than doctors with more hours invested. This evidence is causing concern that surgeons are rushing to perform this surgery without enough formal training.

In the early â€˜90s, surgeons began the practice of laparoscopic gallbladder removal, and a few years later, hundreds of patients who had undergone this operation were beginning to exhibit complications. It was later revealed that many of these surgeons had jumped onto this bandwagon before they were really prepared. As a result, a plethora of medical malpractice lawsuits were filed. Experts predict that the same trend will happen with gastric bypass surgery as well.

A couple years ago, patients died after undergoing gastric bypass surgery in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Iowa. It has been verified that in at least the Massachusetts and Rhode Island cases, the surgeries were performed laparoscopically. The chief surgeons at both hospitals stated that the surgeons who performed the procedure were quite knowledgeable. This proves that even the highly sought after gastric bypass clinics run into trouble. Some of these programs report that one in every 200 to 300 surgeries ends fatally, and there is a ten percent complication rate.

Over a two-year block of time, seven gastric bypass patients died after surgery at Iowa Methodist Medical Center located in Des Moines. Six of them died in 2003 alone. One surgeon who participated in these operations has since stopped performing laparoscopic gastric bypasses.

Signs of gastric bypass malpractice

Aside from surgeon inexperience, some other signs of gastric bypass surgery
malpractice include:

A surgical setting lacking equipment capable of accommodating an obese patient (e.g., diagnostic tools, instruments, operating table).
Intense pain following the operation.
Complications with blood clots, kidneys, and breathing.
A physician's failure to react appropriately when the patient griped about symptoms related to gastrointestinal leakage or additional problems that resulted in death.
A surgeon's decision to perform too many daily operations, causing fatigue and ultimately putting those that are seen later in the day at risk.
A surgeon's failure to inform the patient and their family on the riskiness involved with gastric bypass surgery in addition to the possibility of postoperative surgery.

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