Important Safety Issue for WLS Patients in CA

 Hello Folks at ObesityHelp,

I am just a visitor, but I figured you guys would want to know about this.  You may have heard about Paula Rojeski.  She was the fifth person in CA since 2009 to die when undergoing Lap-Band surgery at an outpatient surgical center.  There are some serious issues with the safety regulations at these centers and some folks are trying to make these procedures safer.

As the law currently stands, these centers have very little government oversight.  If their accreditation is revoked for unsafe conditions, they can simply make some small changes and apply to be accredited through a different private agency, continuing their business and putting other Californians at risk.

State Senator Curren Price Jr. (D-Inglewood) has proposed a bill which would give the private accreditation agencies that oversee outpatient surgery center new authority to stop unsafe centers from jumping from one agency to another with no documentation of their poor safety record.  If this bill is passed, the state medical board will also be obligated to document unsafe centers and make this information available to the public.

We are petitioning the Govenor to pass this bill to keep people safe.  These centers do more than just WLS, but it is WLS patients whose deaths are getting into the news.  Bills like this can be used in your communities as well to ensure that your surgical options are also safe.

Please join us and sign the petition.  Thank you so very much. http://www.change.org/petitions/better-regulation-for-lap-band-surgery-centers

Katie*

Perhaps rogue clinics like these explain why bandsters seem to be more successful in the UK.

Kate