Gastric Bypass Surgery
Gastric Bypass Surgery - Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Weight loss surgery (gastric bypass) has helped many people suffering from morbid obesity to lose weight and improve their general health and wellness. However, gastric by-pass surgery is not without risk, and in the wrong hands the outcome can be disastrous. When things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong and the consequences can be dire and lead to length illness, hospitalization and even death. If you or someone you love has suffered injury or death following gastric by-pass surgery, please contract our gastric bypass lawyers.
What is gastric bypass surgery?
Obesity surgery, also called bariatric surgery, is performed only on severely overweight people who are more than twice their ideal weight. This level of obesity often is referred to as morbid obesity since it can result in many serious, and potentially deadly, health problems, including hypertension, Type II diabetes mellitus (non-insulin dependent diabetes), increased risk for coronary disease, increased unexplained heart attack, hyperlipidemia, and a higher prevalence of colon, prostate, endometrial, and, possibly, breast cancer.
Gastric bypass surgery or bariatric surgery as it is sometimes called, makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. You will feel full more quickly than when your stomach was its original size, which reduces the amount of food you eat and thus the calories consumed. Bypassing part of the intestine also results in fewer calories being absorbed. This leads to weight loss.
The most common gastric bypass surgery is a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. In normal digestion food, passes through the stomach and enters the small intestine where most of the nutrients and calories are absorbed. It then passes into the large intestine (colon), where the remaining waste is eventually excreted.
In a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the stomach is made smaller by creating a small pouch at the top of the stomach using surgical staples or a plastic band. The smaller stomach is connected directly to the middle portion of the small intestine (jejunum), bypassing the rest of the stomach and the upper portion of the small intestine (duodenum).
What are the risks of gastric bypass surgery?
Gastric by-pass surgery is not without risk, and in the wrong hands the outcome can be disastrous. Centers that specialize in bariatric surgery often have an experienced team of professionals including surgeons, nurses, dieticians and others to support the patient at each and every step, beginning even before the surgery. For other patients, the gastric bypass experience is quite different with only their surgeon to turn to when things go wrong.
With the rising popularity of weight loss surgery, some surgeons performing bariatric surgery have little experience with gastric bypass surgeries and other weight loss procedures and the potential complications associated with them or even the aftercare required in terms of patient nutrition. Other physicians fail to respond immediately when a patient complains of symptoms the indicated suture line leaks, or other complications, or failed to educate the patient on post surgery recovery.
Approximately 3 in 200 (1.5%) people die after surgery for weight loss.[1]
Other risks common to all surgeries for weight loss include an infection in the incision, a leak from the stomach into the abdominal cavity or where the intestine is connected, resulting in an infection called peritonitis. It is important to remember that gastric bypass is not a cosmetic surgery but a treatment option for people suffering from obesity.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury or death following a gastric by-pass surgery, perhaps we can help. Please call our gastric bypass malpractice lawyers at 1.800.553.9910. You can also send them an e-mail by clicking on this link: contact us.
Excerpts taken with permission from Minnesota Trial Lawyer Association’s (MTLA) “Minnesota Case Reports”)
- In open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure surgeon negligently inverted the Roux limb causing everything ingested by the patient to move up instead of down the gastrointestinal tract. Patient suffered persistent vomiting and hospitalization for much of the four-month period following surgery. A Mayo surgeon diagnosed and surgically corrected the inverted limb. (Read More)
Gastric Bypass Malpractice Lawyers / Bariatric Surgery Malpractice Attorneys
[1] American Gastroenterological Association (2002). AGA technical review on obesity. Gastroenterology, 123(3): 882–932.
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