Weight loss surgery risks

The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed the discharge records on 86,520 patients who underwent bariatric (weight-loss) surgery during 2002 to 2004 in 17 states.

Here’s what they found out.

The overall mortality (death) rate was 0.19% or about 2 out of every 1000 cases and about 40% experienced various levels of complications once they returned home.

However, the risk of complications, such as bleeding and infection, varied drastically between hospitals. Complications were 66% less likely in highly-rated hospitals than in poorly-rated ones.

These results are obviously a concern to patients, but they also impact the folks paying for these procedures. The average bariatric surgery, with no complications, costs about $25,000. However, this cost jumps to $36,000 if there is a complication while the patient is in the hospital, and to $65,000 if the complication requires the patient to return to the hospital after going home.

What these statistics say to me is that morbidly obese patients should exhaust all other opportunities to lose weight before considering weight-loss surgery. Then, if all other methods fail and weight-loss surgery is a possibility, they should do some serious research before taking this drastic step.

Basically I don’t agree with this quote that was included in the article I read about this study — “Bariatric surgery is the only currently effective treatment we have for the morbidly obese.” (by Samantha Collier, senior vice president of medical affairs at Health Grades, Inc.). This just isn’t true.

Sure, the goofy approaches to losing weight (e.g., any diet, diet pills, hypnosis) don’t work. But there are definitely approaches that do.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition, and Fitness