Question:
PLEASE HELP! What is the mortality rate?

Hi Friends! I am looking for some information that I am having a hard time finding. Some of you who know me know that I coordinate the bariatric program for a large hospital and I'm also a happy, happy WLS patient too. I am working feverishly to compile some good, accurate info for my patients. One of the things I need is a national mortality rate for RNY. I've heard numbers from 1.7% to less than half a percent. The problem is - I can't find the sources for these figures. In order to provide the information to my patients I have to be able to tell who my source is. Can anyone help me find an accurate mortality rate that I can substantiate. I figured folks on this site would appreciate having this info just as much as my patients would too. Thanks for your help and HAPPY HOLIDAY!    — ronascott (posted on December 27, 2002)

December 27, 2002
I lived! You can use my name to verify that.
   — Rose A.

December 27, 2002
*chuckle* Rose. Thanks for the insight!
   — ronascott

December 27, 2002
Check out www.asbs.org. They have all the info on all the different WLS procedures.
   — Leslie F.

December 27, 2002
<b>Please make sure to tell your patients that the most important statistic is their own surgeon's mortality rate. </b> Statistics average the mortality rates rate of both good and incompetant doctors, but for any one patient, his surgery is done by just one doctor. A doctor who has done hundreds of gastric bypasses and never had a patient die won't suddenly lose patients to ensure his statistics are the same as the average; the doctor is likely if anything to have lower mortality rates as time goes on. The general statistics are just a red herring!
   — Beth S.

December 28, 2002
When the Al Roker special was on TV, they quoted the national mortality rate as 2%, I believe. As the previous poster said, every surgeon has a different mortality rate and, until Congress passes a law making the surgeons report to a public agency, there will not be one statistic for the whole country. What matters is what's going on in your hospital, and whether you accept the figures they give you. My own surgeon said he had a 0% mortality rate, but who knows if it's true. The important thing is what one's chances of survival are with a morbidly obese body, with or without surgery.
   — Arlene S.

December 28, 2002
You're right, there seems to be a lot of different numbers floating about. I think one of the best sources for information is a report by the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons in 2000-2001. Of 10,993 patients who had various weight loss surgeries, 30 died within 30 days, or .3% Check out http://www.asbs.org/html/rationale/rationale.html for lots of great statistics and a further breakdown of what caused the deaths.
   — sandsonik

December 28, 2002
Averages are just that, averages. Everynes risk is different. Compare a 800 pound 68 year old who is unable to walk risk with a 20 year old 220 pounder. According to barb thompsons book the risk is less than 1% also it states being mo takes a average of 15 years off a persons life expectancy. This book has been reviewded by the past pres of the bariatric surgery assocation. I trust the info..<P>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1891231758/qid=1039629379/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_3/103-3189628-7015065?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
   — bob-haller

December 29, 2002
Rona, although this is not an answer to your question, one thing that I have been curious about is how many of the WLS fatalities occur because of mistakes and bad decisions made by the surgeon that could have been prevented. When you compile your information for your research it would be very interesting for this to be a subtopic, provided there is even a possibility of finding out this information. I don't know how one would go about finding this out, but it sure would be interesting to know.
   — Hackett