story about hospital in DesMoines

I saw this in the Omaha World Herald today-thought I would repost it here so all could read it. Iowa hospital to end weight-loss surgery Iowa Methodist Medical Center DES MOINES (AP) - Iowa Methodist Medical Center officials say they will suspend their weight-loss surgery program partly because of malpractice insurance increases following a number of surgeries in which the patients died. Representatives of the Des Moines hospital and the doctors group that runs the program emphasized that they still believe in the gastric-bypass operations, which have surged in popularity in the past few years, the Des Moines Register reported in a copyright story Friday. The nearest similar program is at Des Moines' Mercy Capitol Hospital, which started offering the surgery last year. Patty Nance, a nurse who coordinates Mercy's program, said it could handle many of the patients who might have been considering Methodist. "We're willing and ready to expand to fill the need," Nance said. At least nine Iowa hospitals, including Methodist, have added gastric-bypass programs in the past three years, more than doubling the availability in the state. Many doctors expect such growth to be reversed nationally, however, as insurers begin steering patients toward programs with proven track records. Joe Smith, a spokesman for Methodist's parent company, acknowledged that such market projections affected his hospital's decision to stop offering gastric-bypass operations by year's end. Methodist already had drastically reduced its program to 25 surgeries so far this year, compared with 233 last year. Methodist's announcement was welcomed by the husband of one Iowa Methodist patients who died of complications. John Fry, who termed the suspension decision "excellent," lost his wife last Oct. 6. Leslie Fry, 45, suffered massive infections from an intestinal leak. John Fry is suing the surgeon, Dr. Akella Chendrasekhar, and his doctors group, the Iowa Clinic. Fry supported his wife's decision to have the operation, but now believes no one should have it. He knows many patients believe it is a lifesaver. "Those people haven't walked where we're walking," he said. "Let them walk in my shoes. Let them walk in my kids' shoes . . ." Following Leslie Fry's death, seven similar deaths at Methodist plus the death of an Iowa Clinic patient at the now-defunct Metropolitan Medical Center were disclosed. Most of the patients' surgeries were performed by Chendrasekhar, who now practices in Ohio. Last fall, the Iowa Clinic, Methodist and Chendrasekhar defended their records. They noted that the surgery is inherently risky, partly because of the health problems that commonly accompany obesity. Several national experts have said since then, however, that the string of deaths was one of the largest ever seen in a single gastric-bypass program. Smith said the program might return at Methodist. For now, Chendrasekhar's former partner, Dr. Denville Myrie, will perform the operations on Iowa Methodist patients who have already signed up. Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom Copyright ©2004 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or distributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for posting this. I live in DesMoines, and investigated both Methodist and Mercy Capitol in looking at Gastric Bypass. I do believe that Mercy Capitol has a better program, and I chose that route. Since I've been researching this surgery for a long time, I had taken special note everytime Methodist (or anyone) had a death. In Sundays paper, there was a HUGE article on Gastric Bypass. In fact, the picture of the surgical patient was me. Yes, you can see my surgery with all the ports and tools sticking inside of me. Anyway, I'll see if I can post it here, but it's LONG and not certain that anyone would want to read it. Have a super day! And, thanks again.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040912/LIFE02/409120402/1042 Not sure if you can get that or not, but there it is. It doesn't have the pictures with it (which is too bad) because they were awesome pictures. Anyway, I don't know how to post links here, nor do I know how long that link will even be available. But, for what it's worth, there is the link. I went to desmoinesregister.com, clicked on the "health" link, then scrolled down until I saw a Gastric Bypass in the subject. Enjoy your day.