Weight-loss surgery warning

The death of a Perth woman nearly two years after a stomach banding operation was likely preventable and highlights the importance of educating doctors about identifying and managing complications from gastric banding, the Deputy State Coroner has found.

Evelyn Vicker said that given how frequently gastric banding procedures were done, there was a need to ensure patients and GPs were well informed about the risks and side effects.

Link to article

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/17828091/weigh t-loss-surgery-warning/

Yes people need to be educated about their bands and stay on top of issues.

I AGREE 100% This was sooo Avoidable  Too often the Surgeons think that If they have the patient attend a WLS seminar, give them a pamphlet and then do their surgery (In this case a band) that their job is DONE Tell me again how "SAFE" and least invasive the LB is..Pffft........

What people need to understand is that,just because insurance companies will happily place a band...they will not remove the damn thing until it has caused permanent damage or it has almost killed you.

As a patient I WAS on top of things, I had my butt in my surgeons office probably every two weeks because of vomiting.  I begged for a revision.  He just kept telling me to follow the rules.  How well are you supposed to chew water!?!?  Some surgeons are just sure we are too stupid to chew.

And amazingly, I went to an excellent surgeon, he is an Allergan proctor, he has done thousands of bands, and that is the answer I got.

One day I couldn't keep my own spit down, the next day with the SAME unfill I could eat anything I wanted with no problem.  It was sheer band insanity.

Of course, when his own daughter wanted a band he told her absolutely not, they are 'dangerous and ineffective' but anyone ELSE with cash in hand and suddenly it's a 'good tool' for many!  Bleh....

Yeah I just read that. So sad! Makes you wonder just how many deaths are the result of the lapband? :-(

Ignorance all round. The woman ignored her symptoms, (edited, wrote "for a year", misread article, does not give time frame) the GP therefore didn't know she had problems and if she had told him might not have realised they were band related.  Emphasises what we all know - don't ignore problems.  The article says her death might well have been preventable if she had asked for and got medical care. 

There was a big story here a year or so back of a woman who died of aspiration pneumonia. Headlines news! But it turned out she had had violent, choking reflux for a very long time but liked the fact she was losing weight and so decided to keep quiet about it. 

We all know not all problems are self-inflicted but I get very sad when  I hear of people who choose to keep their band tight because they are believe that that is the way to lose weight. There is one on my UK board who is five years post-op and has been maintaining for about four years. While losing she kept her band so tight she could hardly eat, now she keeps it tight enough to mean that she has regular relfux. She sees this as an acceptable "price to pay" for easy maintenance.  I am actually very surprised she has still got her band and that she has not yet developed other problems.

Please, no-one chip in to say some people don't choose to keep tight bands, they have no choice because of band-problems! I do know that. I am talking about people who make a deliberate choice to keep a very tight band. Tightness is my personal paranoia. Even very mild and occasional reflux  has me going for a small unfill.

Kate

While I agree with what you write fully, there is another side to this.

There are MANY banded folks, especially 2-3 years out, that vomit a LOT.  I don't even like the phrase PB, that is nonsense.  I mean full on vomit.  For a great many it becomes a way of life.  I don't know if people think they are paying the price for gaining to begin with or more likely, they will do anything to get the pounds off and keep them off.

I can point you to a f/b page that is creepy spooky from Australia.  O.M.G.!  It is one horror after another.  One girl had her 2nd band 10 months ago and due to yet another slip (she refers to slip after slip after slip) she is facing a 3rd band.  She's not the least bit concerned it is her 3rd band, she is annoyed that she has to take time off work again for yet another surgery.

They repeatedly refer to hot burps, being tighter than a fish ass, they are proud that they only had one public spew in a given day, they complain of left shoulder pain, night time aspiration of stomach acid, reflux to the point of Barretts esophagus... my point here is that this happens (statistically speaking) to most people.  That is why the band is removed more than it isn't.  For many they believe this is the norm.  This is what the band is supposed to do.  While it DOES do this eventually a majority of the time (statistically speaking) they believe this is a norm, this is what banded life is all about.  They work around it, they deal with it.  It is as normal to them as it is abnormal to us.

When most of your veteran peers are spewing stomach acid and laughing about how many public spews they had in a day one does come to believe it is the norm.  And quite frankly, Kate, for a majority of vets it IS the norm.  You can get just as angry with me as you wish, I have your own studies to back me up on band problems and band removals.  But when a fat person finally loses weight and gets to goal if that is the norm in their head and they believe that is what it takes to get to goal, they will put up with it.  It does indeed become the norm for them.

I spent over a year getting tested, seeking answers.  In that time I could have very easily died from aspiration, arrhythmia etc due to my band.  The problem isn't patient ignorance, it is the ignorance of the non bariatric medical community in treating our issues.  Our band docs are so busy covering their collective asses, that the best interest of the patient isn't a priority.

As far as people not being responsible for their bands being tight:  when our bands cause so much scar tissue it makes us tight, long after a tiny fill...we're NOT responsible.  We have one gal on the Facebook group who has been going to the ER for IV hydration and now her insurance has sent her a letter telling her to stop doing that even though they won't authorize band removal. She can't swallow liquids!  Her band is empty.  Are we going to blame her for this?  Is it my fault I lost my band? NO.  

We don't know all the facts in the Perth story, but it looks like there was enough blame to go around.  Blaming a woman who can't speak for herself is just not ok.

Movetolose, we can't avoid all risk but we can work to minimise it. Some of the posters on this thread will disagree vehemently but of the long term bandsters I know, all bar two still have their bands and this is at least in part due to very rigorous aftercare. I am not for one second saying that this will prevent all problems! People like Steph, who posted on this thread, do everything they are supposed to and still have very serious complications.  

But there are without doubt some people who abuse their bands, I have  met IRL well over 40 banded people, some as far as nine years out. Just two have had bands removed and one of those freely admits she abused her band.  In fairness, as certain people spend hours scrutinising posts like this to identify flaws, I admit that I have lost touch with some of the 40+. At a quick count, I have lost contact with 8, but they were all OK when last heard from! 

I do not make exaggerated claims for the band, I do not criticise other surgeries. But I believe the band has a place in wls.

Kate