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Bariatric Surgery Demand Is Rising

By Mark Lavoie and Noah D. Wuestoff

Morbid obesity affects over 20 million Americans; indeed, between 3% and 5% of the adult population of the United States is morbidly obese, or clinically severely obese, the highest percentage of population of any country. Sabiston: Textbook of Surgery. 17th ed. Townsend, CM (ed) et al. Elsevier Saunders 2004 p. 357. Severe obesity and its co-morbidities are estimated to cause 280,000 deaths annually in the United States compared with 90,000 per year from breast and colon cancer. Given these numbers, it is not surprising that bariatric surgical operations are in more demand by patients than any other operation and have experienced the most rapid growth rate both of procedures performed and surgeons performing them than any area of general surgery over the past 3 years. Id.

Unfortunately, as with any significant abdominal procedure, complications are common and can cost doctors and hospitals. However, there are steps that medical providers can take to ensure that the patient receives the best treatment possible. While these steps will not completely insulate medical providers from liability, they may limit claims, including those that allege inadequate informed consent, inadequate physician training and credentialing, inappropriate patient selection and inadequate facilities. They also may alleviate the concerns that family practitioners and other physicians who refer patients for bariatric surgery have about obesity surgery.

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