The value of pre-op diets (link to full text in comments)

One valid purpose of the pre-op diet is to lose the fat around the liver which enables it to be retracted during surgery to enable visualizing the stomach effectively laparoscopicaly. Not being able to visualize the stomach effetively may cause the surgeon to 1) cancel the surgery or, 2) switch from laparoscopic surgery to open surgery.

I agree with the other posters and especially like Grims clock theory.

The weeding out theory is a good one too.

Those who self pay and avoid any pre-op diet of any kind, run the risk of the fatty liver problem.

So to me, liver fat shrinking diet is necessary but, a 6 month diet seems way too long..

Not all surgeons require a pre-op diet to shrink the liver. I'd wonder why some doctors insist on it, and others can perform the operation just fine.

I've wondered that myself. I guess in the long run, it truly is up to the surgeon and how he likes things to be.

I do agree about visceral fat making it hard for MDs, risk of nicking another organ or the bowel is real. shoving large amounts of fatty organ out of the way to work on delicate procedures is a real risk, more ones. gas trapped in the body slows recovery, and is itself a risk.

the 6th month requirement may be the key...once obesity was a disease they HAD to pay for coverage, so slowing down the requests flooding in was a BUSINESS decision I think.

Look at auto accidents as example, your ins. will daly paying you as long as possible. i was in a head on collision in 2009, serious, didn't lose any limbs TG, but my OWN ins. that I paid for for 25 years, dragged on for 3 years while I had to "Prove" it was the accident that caused my disability.

Every time they call they ask how are you- you can't ever say 'fine' or OK, as they track that and repeat it back as "overtime we call you said..." EVERY ins. company does this delay-deny-to death...saves them money.

This is the reverse, they are delaying because they can't 'deny' without reason...so creating complications will frustrate most people.

Health insurance companies definitely can, and do, exclude treatment for obesity in their coverage terms. See: my current insurance plan. It excludes weight loss surgery and even nutritional counseling for non-surgical weight loss.

Here's a link to the full article.

Thanks Gwen for providing the whole studies as you get them. I'd have no ability to access these things on my own without spending a prohibitive amount of money over time.

With your sharing I'm able to read through these things and I get to save the full text as well for future reference. Certainly I am not the only one who benefits from them in some way.

I just really appreciate it.

I will tell you my secret! I ran across this meme on Facebook that said you can actually email an article's author and request a copy and they're allowed to give it to you (as long as you're not going to violate copyright).

And, OMG, it works. I think I've emailed four different authors at this point and they've all sent me their articles. One even sent me a second article based on the same data set. So awesome.

Wow. I never even considered contacting the author. Thanks! I'm going to try it.

Sometimes I have to do a little googling to find the author's email, but I've always been able to!