Well, this is good news. Maybe it will help knock down a few more insurance walls for Lap Bands here in the US. Maybe it’ll help reduce the cost as well.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Medicare program may expand reimbursement for bariatric surgery for the obese, in light of a study that found the treatment can help reverse diabetes, the agency said on Monday.
Recent research found the surgery can completely reverse type 2 diabetes, a metabolic condition spurred by weight gain and suffered by millions of Americans.
Medicare, the government health plan for the nation’s 44 million elderly, “will assess the nature of the scientific evidence supporting surgery for the treatment of diabetes,” the agency said on its Web site.
The agency will decide whether to set a “national coverage decision,” that would set reimbursement policy for all Medicare recipients. It could also decide to not cover the weight-loss surgery for diabetes alone.
The government already pays for the surgery in certain patients, generally those classified as “morbidly obese.”
Both my mother, and my grandfather had diabetes and died at the age of 64 from heart attacks. Neither of them were obese and both of them were quite active. My grandfather was a rodeo photograher - not a job for the unfit. He was taking down storm windows from his home when he died. My mother was digging a ditch and I’m guessing the combination of the diabetes, the smoking and the Arkansas summer heat took her. Still, 64 is awfully young. Here’s hoping that we help keep parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles around longer.
I can see from my searches that a lot of you are looking for Lap Band surgery in the US for under $10k. Finally, Lap Band For Life has stepped up to the plate! I don’t have a lot of details on the program, but I do know that they are using hospitals rather than surgery centers for the procedure.
If you’re interested, fill out the application and someone will get back to you. I’ll be eager to hear about your experience.
Wow - this is so cool. Life coaches Cher Ewing and Jeff Cadwell have both had weight loss surgery. Cher has had a Lap Band and Jeff has a gastric bypass. Together, they have an internet radio show that provides advice and counseling for people who are thinking about or have had weight loss surgery.
Their next show is Wednesday, April 23rd and they’ll be talking to Nurse Connie Cox, a registered dietician, who works with bariatric surgery patients and has had a gastric bypass herself.
Date: 04/23/08
Time: 8:00 pm ET, 7:00 pm CT, 6:00 MT and 5:00pm PT
Where: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thewlscoaches
Call-In Line: 646-716-9413
The have a fantastic podcast available with Dr. Terry Simpson of the Arizona Bariatric Center. Dr. Simpson is late calling in so the meat of all doesn’t happen until 40 minutes in - I’d encourage you to skip the first forty minutes and just cut right to Dr. Simpson. The interview with him is about 42 minutes long and is well worth the time to listen. He’s an incredibly charming, well-spoken, funny guy who knows his subject inside and out. I learned several things from the show that I’ll be writing about later today.
Cruising around YouTube today, I found Becca’s video blog. She’s only got two videos up, but she’s very well spoken. She’s lost, I think, 50 pounds in the past few months and has gone from three chins to one.
And here is her second video where she talks a lot about the process of having a Lap Band. She only needed Tylenol to deal with the pain - nothing stronger. She had her surgery on Thursday and was back at work on Monday. At the very end, she shows you her scars and I know there are a lot of questions about that out there.
Her surgery was performed by Keith McEwan at the Indiana Obesity Center.e.com/watch?v=V1VG824lr6M&hl=en]
Anyway, enjoy.
I know that there are a lot of people who are looking for less expensive ways to have a Lap Band procedure. I haven’t found anyone in the US who is doing the procedure for under $13.5k. But in Mexico, it’s considerably less expensive and the physicians there also have considerably MORE experience doing the procedure than American physicians do. Indeed, when the FDA finally approved the Lap Band here in the US, Inamed brought in teams of experienced surgeons from Mexico to train the doctors here in the US.
A lot of you who are self-paying have families who love you very much and who are very skeptical of the idea of you having surgery in Mexico. But there are numerous medical facilities in Mexico which are built to encourage Americans to spend their health care dollars south of the border. The facilities are brand new, brilliantly clean and incredibly well run. The doctors usually speak impeccable English as well.
Now, to facilitate the trip south, particularly for those of us who don’t live in Southern California, we have World Med Assist - a company that assists Americans seeking to go abroad for medical care they cannot afford here at home.
WMA has ties to just five hospitals around the world. Before they include a hospital in their company, they do extensive research as to their reputation in the medical community, who their physicians are and the level of esteem with which they are regarded. After they are satisfied that the hospital and the physicians comfortably meet American standards for medical care, they fly to inspect the hospital first hand and meet the principals. That way they can be confident that when you arrive at the hospital for medical treatment, you’ll be treated with the same exemplary care you would expect to receive here. In fact, if you have your Lap Band procedure in Mexico through WMA, you’ll actually spend three nights in the hospital rather than the out patient experience we have here in the US. For those of you who feel that you are extremely high risk, this is something to keep in mind.
Part of what WMA does is handle all the logistics. They’ll make sure that you have all the paperwork needed from your physician here in the US and that it’s in the hands of the surgeon in Mexico. WMA will arrange your flight to San Diego where you will be met by a driver who will drive you to the Hospital Angeles in Tijuana. You’ll have a mobile phone with you that will provide you with local numbers should you need to contact someone. At the hospital, you’ll meet Dr. Lopez Corvala who speaks perfect English and has performed over 3000 Lap Band surgeries - something that not many physicians in the US can say. If there are any problems or questions, WMA is there to act as a patient advocate. They have several physicians on their staff who can quickly cut through anything you would have concerns about. After you’ve returned home, WMA will help you arrange for fills locally and if there are any questions on your bill, they’ll help resolve those as well.
World Med Assist client Angela Jones had a Lap Band procedure in Mexico:
WorldMed Assist proposed Dr. Lopez Corvala at Hospital Angeles. “I had friends who’d gone to Mexico for Lap Band surgery – two who each lost 150 pounds – so I was very comfortable with what WorldMed Assist proposed,” said Jones. “I checked Dr. Lopez Corvala’s background and was very impressed with his volume of lap band surgeries—over 3,000—and his track record. Then I checked out the hospital, and saw that it was very new, very modern. I was completely confident in my decision to go there.”
Located just a hop across the U.S. border, Hospital Angeles draws 95% of its patients from the U.S. and Canada. Among all hospitals in Mexico, it performs the highest number of lap band surgeries.
The 95% number is important. When I talk about Mexican medical facilities gearing themselves up for American health care dollars, this is what I’m talking about. I know people think it sounds scary to have health care procedures done in Mexico, but this is why you can feel confident - the business itself demands that the facility rise to the standards that Americans expect for their healthcare dollar. These people want you to refer your friends to them for their care as well - that’s why you can be confident they’re going to take very good care of you.
Back to Angela:
Jones was away from her home in Dalton, Georgia for just two days. “I’m so glad I found WorldMed Assist. They made everything so easy, and stayed closely involved from my very first contact. Not only did they make all the arrangements for me in Mexico, they also helped me find a center to have my lap band filled that’s only an hour away from my home.”
Would she recommend a trip to Hospital Angeles for others seeking a permanent weight loss solution? “Definitely. Everyone at the hospital was super nice and my doctor was terrific. The hospital was even more impressive in person than on the internet. Even if I could have afforded the $20,000 for Lap Band surgery at home, doctors here wouldn’t do it because my Body Mass Index was just below the minimum requirement. My surgery in Mexico cost me less than $8000, everything included.”
Jones plans to shed 80 pounds by fall. “The hospital urged me not to take it too fast, and recommended I plan on 10 months so I can maintain good nutrition,” she said.
World Med Assist has a page that explains what the process is for determining if they can help you with your Lap Band procedure, what you need to provide them with and how you make your decisions. I want to highlight a couple excerpts from this page.
Step three: Initial Information. Next, we need to get to know one another better so we can tailor a medical solution to your unique situation. We’ll contact you to:
Find out more about your medical history and current medical needs
Determine whether you’re a good candidate for medical travel
Explain in more detail exactly what to expect and when
Answer all your questions
Describe how we evaluate medical providers to ensure the highest quality care for our patients
Discuss destination options for your medical condition and learn your travel preferences. Describe the “behind-the-scenes” services we provide to ensure a smooth, simple and seamless trip abroad for your treatment
These people are very good at providing succinct information over the phone - certainly their website suggests that they understand very well what people want to know. Your conversation with them will provide you with a lot of information that’s going to make you feel much more comfortable about proceding abroad.
The next part comes under the KISS paradigm. Stop fretting and let them handle logistics:
Step seven: We Arrange Logistics. Once you’ve made your decision, we take it from there, and even help you get your travel documents, such as passports and visas, in order and arrange for payment, including financing if needed. Once we’ve tied down the date for your procedure, WorldMed Assist then makes all arrangements with the doctor and hospital, and coordinates your travel itinerary. All you have to do is pack a suitcase and board the airplane.
And this is the process once you arrive:
Step eight: You Arrive. Once you arrive at your destination, you’ll be greeted at the airport and driven to the hospital. You’ll be introduced to your liaison, who on our behalf, will coordinate your admission and all details during your stay. During admission, you’ll make payment to the hospital, usually by credit card, and then you’re ready to meet your medical team. Your lead doctor will explain every aspect of your procedure in detail and the in depth pre-op tests. The tests ensure there are no changes in your medical condition since the transfer of records. Most patients are impressed with the thoroughness of these tests, and unlike in the U.S., are all at no additional charge. No matter which of the WorldMed Assist hospitals you’ve chosen, you’ll be able to communicate clearly in English, the facilities are pristine and technologically advanced, and the staff is dedicated to your medical care and your personal comfort.
If you or someone you love can’t afford to have weight loss surgery here in the US, this is an excellent way to go about saving money and receiving excellent care all at the same time. Eight thousand dollars is something that most families can come up with if necessary and extending the life and physical comfort of someone you love seems like an excellent thing to do. Maybe this surgery could be a Mother’s Day gift, or a Father’s Day gift or even a birthday gift. What do you think - would others in your family pitch in? I bet they would.
Anyway, check out World Med Assist’s website and then call them and ask your questions. 1-866-999-3848
I know I have a lot of people checking to find out whether Lap Bands are appropriate for adolescents. I’ve featured several stories about kids who have lost a tremendous amount of weight with Lap Bands and are much happier for it. The key is that you must be serious about losing weight and be capable of eating reasonably.
If you’re a teenager in Southern California, and you’re interesting in having a Lap Band procedure, UCSD may be looking for you.
Millions of adults have turned to surgery when diet and exercise don’t work. Now, with childhood obesity sharply on the rise, researchers are exploring whether surgery may be a viable option for teens. As part of a multi-center clinical trial, UCSD Medical Center will evaluate whether or not a minimally invasive procedure called gastric banding is a safe and effective weight loss treatment in obese adolescents ages 14-17.
“Gastric banding is known to be highly successful in adults. The question to answer is whether or not the procedure can help morbidly obese teens, who on average are overweight by more than 100 pounds,” said Santiago Horgan, M.D., director of the UCSD Center for the Treatment of Obesity. “Over a period of five years, we will closely monitor the patient’s weight, in addition to their overall health and well being.”
Here is the short version of what they are looking for:
The nationwide study population will consist of 150 adolescents recruited from seven weight management centers. Twenty two participants will be recruited at UCSD Medical Center. Potential participants must demonstrate a history of obesity for at least two years and have failed more conservative non-surgical weight-reduction alternatives such as a supervised diet, exercise, and behavior modification programs.
And here is their contact info along with a statement of purpose by the researching physician:
“By addressing obesity at an early age, we may be able to avoid life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression,” said Horgan who has performed more than 1,000 gastric banding procedures. “In the long run this could potentially save billions of dollars now spent on obesity related healthcare.”
UCSD Medical Center has a comprehensive program dedicated to the holistic treatment of obesity. Through a compassionate team approach, patients and their families are offered leading-edge medical care combined with nutritional training, fitness counseling, and psychological support.
To learn more about the gastric banding clinical trial for adolescents, including potential risks and side effects, call UCSD Medical Center at 619-471-0447 or email misresearch@ucsd.edu.
This press release is from last summer, so the program may be full already, but it seems to me that if you’re a teenager who needs to lose over 100 pounds, it would be more than worth it to contact them and see what the story is.
I’ve had Lise The Loser linked in my blogroll for a couple weeks now. She did a good post the other day though, that I wanted to link quickly because I really approve of first person information. You gotta talk to your doctor, but I think that hearing from the people who have been through the process already makes a huge difference in your decision making.
I was writing to my friend Christina complaining (go figure…me…complain…unheard of!) I was afraid that I’m becoming a boring bandster now that I’m in this post-surgery/pre-fill/no restriction phase. So, the brilliant recently banded Christina wrote:
“First of all, you are not a boring bandster, you can always give updates on your pain. I know that is always a popular topic, people always to know what to expect. You can give an update so the people behind you can get an idea of how you are doing these days… are you totally pain free? do you not feel like your innards are coming out anymore? Are you pooping normally, eating normally, getting all the protein, do you have hiccups (I do) yadda yadda yadda. How it felt the first time you sneezed. (hurts!) that’s all stuff that at least I would want to know. we all know you hate exercise so i wont look for that :-)”
Isn’t she a smart cookie? I think so! So here are the answers (I feel like I’m being interviewed…how fun!):
Then she goes on to answer the questions. The first question is about pain, so I know that a lot of people are interested in that:
Are you totally pain free? Yes! I’m totally 100% pain free. I would say I became pain free at the 2.5 week mark. I can now sleep on any side I like, twist, turn, bend, and all of the other wonderfullness that comes with being pain free. I remember feeling like I would always have some pain during the 2nd week…when it hurt to even sit for long periods of time - but this is over. I forget I even have the band in me. Port pain is a thing of the past.
Good news there. I thought the questions on food were interesting, and Lise’s answers certainly echo what Lorraine Kay had to say in her videotaped interviews.
Eating normally? Totally normal. Everything except for bread, pasta, rice, crackers, etc. Basically nothing with wheat or too many carbs. But I eat steak, carrots, all fish, chicken, mushrooms, tuna fish, squash, etc. Have not had a problem yet…no vomiting…sometimes I wonder if the band is really in me or if it’s all a mental test and I’m “rat number 2128″.
Getting all the protein? Most definitely. I eat tuna everyday for lunch and have either steak, chicken or salmon for dinner each night. I am Mrs. Protein. I also drink a SlimFast-a-ccino shake every night before bed because it makes me feel like I’m having ice-cream. Yummm. It’s packed with protein, as well.
Lise is a prolific blogger and I’m sure you’ll see a lot of the questions you have answered in the course of her journal.
I just stumbled on Gwen’s WLS Journey blog this morning. She’s an RN who is studying nurse anesthesiology. She’s been banded for a year and she’s very thoughtful about the process and her relationship with food. Her entries aren’t short so if you’re looking for pithy little blurbs, she’s not your writer. Her slide show with different images of herself at different stages of weight loss is really nice.
She has a new physician who is advising her to increase her protein intake. I haven’t read anything quite like this before:
So anyway, I see Dr Pennings, at last. He didn’t seem super impressed with my weight loss at 1 year, but he saw I was within 20 lbs of goal. He liked how much I am exercising. They did a Tanita body composition thingie and determined that I had 120 lbs of lean mass, and he used that number with his personal number of 1.5 gm protein per kg lean body mass to determine that I need 90 gm of protein per day now. Um, what? How am I going to do that, without protein shakes? I think 75 gm might be more doable. My “people” at the Portland office told me 45-52gm, which I have been going by for the past year. Pennings believes that my weight loss will pick up again if I get 90 gm protein in per day. I believe he might be full of crap. But anyway, I’m trying to increase it some.
One useful tidbit he did give me was the calories-per-protein-gram rule. He told me to check labels on foods, and “gravitate” towards foods that have a ratio of 15 calories or less per 1 gm of protein. This seems reasonable and simple to do
Anyway, check it out, if you’re interested. I’ve added her to the Lap Bandee blogroll so you can always find her.
In this video, Lorraine Kay talks about the first month after surgery. Lorraine had congestive heart failure and wrestled with a tremendous amount of edema - which largely disappeared the first month. Her legs had been so swollen that she couldn’t bend them to walk up stairs. Now, she could walk and felt like a different person. She didn’t need pain pills but she was kinda hungry.
BiBi is a YouTube blogger who had a Lap Band procedure a number of weeks ago. She’s got five videos up on YouTube documenting her progress. She went in for her first fill this week and talks about that process. She says she’s going well, but we haven’t seen photos yet. Anyway, here’s BiBi!
So, I get off on kicks and read everything I can find. While looking for articles about lap band studies on kids, I found this article by Andrew Binion for the Kitsap Sun - which is quite lovely. It’s about then 12 year old Hannah Siparek. Her mother, Marsha, had wrestled with obesity her entire life. She was never full regardless of how much she ate. Now, her beloved daughter was wrestling with the same problem.
At 12, on the verge of the cruelest year of adolescence, Hannah stood 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed about 290 pounds. She could eat and eat and never feel full. She showed early signs of Type 2 diabetes. She loved soccer but couldn’t force her overburdened frame to run the field.
“She was always hungry, and she kept getting bigger and bigger,” said Marsha, who like Hannah, didn’t get the full, satisfied feeling that tells a person to stop eating.
Less than two years ago, Hannah was a morbidly obsese 290 pounds. Today, she packs just 150 pounds on her 5-feet, 5-inch frame and plays soccer — thanks to lap-band surgery she had in Mexico that shrunk her stomach, and her once-endless appetite for food.
“You have this infillable hunger, and it’s not just in your mind,” she said. “You’re just starvin
Mom had the Lap Band procedure and was quite happy with the results:
For Marsha, the results were dramatic. For the first time, when she ate, she felt full — and didn’t eat any more after that. She has lost, and kept off, 100 pounds since the surgery in November 2005.
Marsha was interested in getting the procedure for 12 year old Hannah, but none of the US doctors would agree to it because of her age. Finally, Dr. Pedro Kuri, who had performed Marsha’s surgery agreed to see Hannah. He’s performed over 3500 lap band surgeries and had operated on children as young as 12.
“Sometimes I have my doubts about teenagers because they don’t act like an adult,” Kuri said during a phone interview. “I have adults that don’t act like they should.”
Teenagers must have a long, serious conversation with him beforehand, and he has refused to perform the implant on teens who weren’t mature enough. He said Hannah was a self-possessed, confident, emotionally mature girl, and having a long talk with her convinced Kuri she could carefully watch what she ate.
He has given implants to 15-year-olds, a 14-year-old recently and a 12-year-old other than Hannah. He said the procedure doesn’t interfere with the maturation process. And, Kuri added, if left unchecked, the teens and Hannah would be beyond morbidly obese by the time they are in their 20s.
All told, he’s performed more than 3,500 surgeries over the past 10 years. And 99 percent of the patients were American, he said.
Age sometimes is the deciding factor. He was approached about putting the implant in a 10-year-old.
Now, fourteen years old, Hannah is slender and pretty:
As a result, Hannah is now a 150-pound, 5-foot-10-inch 14-year-old who hangs around the house in soccer shorts and dismisses talk of turning to basketball. Because of her age, Marsha said, her skin shrunk back in with her frame.
“She lost a whole person,” Marsha said, who hopes the implants are approved for other obese children as young as Hannah.
Hannah’s life is dramatically different now, than it likely would have been:
At first, Hannah didn’t have much interest in being a “bandster,” as Marsha calls it, and she didn’t have self-confidence problems. But as she watched her mom lose weight, and become happier, she came around to the idea.
Hannah said she has a sense of what life would be like without the band. She would not have lost the weight, she might have gotten heavier, and she would have likely dropped out of school. Marsha said she would have been home-schooled.
“I feel like a whole new person, I can finally be the kid I want to be,” she said. “When I was big, I’d stand in the middle of the field and wait for the ball to come to me.
“Now I go for the ball.”
One of the things I like about this article is that it has Hannah’s yearly portraits starting at age 3. You can see how severely obese she is. And how well she’s turned out now. It’s a great story and hopefully, we’ll see more kids rescued in the future as well.
“You don’t want to wait until they are adults and having heart attacks,”
Dr. Marc Bessler - New York Presbyterian Hospital
I’m looking around a little bit more on this subject of adolescents and Lap Bands. There seems to be a concensus that it’s an appropriate for surgery for kids starting somewhere around the age of thirteen. There have been a number of studies done and the results are all pretty positive - which is good news, I think. I’m sure more than a few of my readers were overweight as teenagers, and I’m betting it’s a painful way to go through some tough years.
Lap band surgery was performed on 53 morbidly obese adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17, according to the study. Most of the patients were girls. People are considered morbidly obese when their body mass index is at 40 or above, usually about 100 pounds overweight.
The patients in the study had a history of obesity for at least 5 years and many had conditions commonly found in obese adults such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and sleep apnea. They had also tried unsuccessfully to lose weight on numerous diet and exercise regimens, including medically supervised weight loss, according to the study. All of the adolescents were screened by a psychologist to ensure that they would comply with the study protocol.
The first conclusion of the article is that the Lap Band is safer than a gastric bypass:
“This study suggests that the lap band provides a safer and equally effective weight loss strategy compared to the gastric bypass,” said Evan Nadler, M.D., Director of Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery and Assistant Professor of Surgery at New York University School of Medicine, who is the lead author of the study. “This is good news for parents contemplating obesity surgery for their adolescent children. The bypass has serious risks and side effects associated with it and our study shows that the band provides similar weight loss benefits without the same risks.” Intestinal leakage and bleeding, blockage of the intestines, and severe nutritional deficiency are some of the side effects associated with the bypass procedure.
And then, the kids lose weight:
According to the study, twelve and eighteen months following their surgery, the average weight loss for each patient was about 50 percent of excess weight, a figure comparable to weight loss following a gastric bypass procedure. None of the patients regained any lost weight, which has occurred after gastric bypass procedures, said Dr. Nadler.
There were a few complications but they were all minor and did not require hospitalization:
Complications were found to be significantly less severe with the band procedure as well. None of the gastric band patients in the study had complications that required readmission to the hospital. Two patients experienced slippage of the band, two patients developed hiatal hernias, and one patient had a wound infection. All of these conditions were treated by outpatient procedures. According to the study, a few patients also experienced mild hair loss and iron deficiency which were treated with nutritional counseling and vitamin supplementation.
Speaking of the Northwest Weight Loss Surgical Center in Everett, Washington (just half an hour from Seattle), I wanted to post the link to their insurance page which has tons of really good information about how to proceed with your insurance carrier.
Step 1 - Contact Your Insurance Carrier
Call the benefits coordinator at your human resource office and/or call the customer service line listed on your insurance card. State “I am inquiring about my policy benefits regarding the surgical treatment of morbid obesity. Is surgery for morbid obesity a covered benefit?”
If the answer is “no,” you may need an attorney to help you prove that it is medically necessary. We recommend you contact the Obesity Law and Advocacy Center (obesitylaw.com).
If the answer is “yes,” then ask what CPT procedure codes are covered and if this includes LAP-BAND surgery (CPT 43770).
Finally, ask them to send you a copy of their policy on the surgical treatment of morbid obesity (ICD 9 code 278.01).
You may use the list below to help you ask all the questions and to document the answers received.
Telephone number and extension called: _____________________
Is surgery for morbid obesity a covered benefit? Yes No
Which CPT codes are covered?
43770 LAP-BAND Yes No
Do you have a policy on surgery for morbid obesity that I can obtain?
What information do you require before authorizing the surgery?
a. Nutrition consult required? Yes No
b. Psychological consult required? Yes No
c. Medical clearance from your physician Yes No
d. Note from Surgeon Yes No
e. Documentation of weight loss attempts Yes No
f. Documentation of length of obesity Yes No
Ask whether you are required to see an in-plan provider for the LAP-BAND surgery or if you can be treated by a contracted provider such as Northwest Weight Loss Surgery Center. If your insurance plan requires an in-plan provider, and you want to use a contracted provider for your surgery, you may need to consult an attorney.
Get the full name and direct telephone extension of the person with whom you spoke.
The whole page is that informative. If you’re getting ready to call your insurer, take the time to really absorb what’s on this page. They also encourage you to read Walter Lindstrom’s article on preparing to deal with your insurance company - Maximizing Your Chances Of Getting Insurance Approval.
And lastly, as Mr. Lindstrom observes, if your insurer rejects your claim, call the Obesity Law and Action Center, because that’s when they have the best shot at overturning the denial. Right now, they have a success rate of 90% and work hard at making their services affordable for working class people.
This is interesting - a study being done involving 150 morbidly obese teenagers who are having Lap Band procedures to see if gastric banding is an effective means for dealing with teen obesity. I can’t imagine much worse than being an obese teen - it’s painful enough when you’re trim.
The nationwide study population will consist of 150 adolescents recruited from seven weight management centers. Twenty two participants will be recruited at UCSD Medical Center. Potential participants must demonstrate a history of obesity for at least two years and have failed more conservative non-surgical weight-reduction alternatives such as a supervised diet, exercise, and behavior modification programs.
“By addressing obesity at an early age, we may be able to avoid life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression,” said Horgan who has performed more than 1,000 gastric banding procedures. “In the long run this could potentially save billions of dollars now spent on obesity related healthcare.
On Dr. Ortiz‘ site, he has a testimonial from Cassie, a 13 year old girl who has had a lap band procedure, and who was apparently on the Oprah Winfrey show this year. Hopefully, I can find something on YouTube later. His Obesity Control Center will perform surgeries on people from 13 up. They have a host of psychological tests they put the kids through, and go from there. They also have a support group just for kids as well.
“It took more than a year to get our study approved, but since then, it’s gone very well.”
The FDA approved the procedure for adults in June 2001.
By this year, it was all Drs. Kevin Montgomery and Brad Watkins, weight-loss-surgery specialists, wanted to perform.
“We sat around one day saying we would never let someone in our family have gastric-bypass surgery performed on them, so why were we still doing it?” Watkins said. “With gastric bypass, you have to stay overnight in the hospital, and [Lap-Band surgery] is done laparoscopically as an outpatient procedure.”
The two recently opened the Northwest Weight Loss Surgery center, performing Lap-Band surgeries on adults. Seeing the problem of obesity in children, the two decided to join NYU, the Minimally Invasive Bariatric Center in Chicago and other facilities in conducting studies on youths.
The same basic standards apply to kids as apply to adults, however, in the case of the teens, the doctors are performing the surgeries at the hospital rather than at the surgery center.
The Northwest Weight Loss Surgery center will conduct up to 50 surgeries on youths 16 and 17 who have a body-mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher, or a BMI of 35 with a serious health problem related to obesity. The index is a height-to-weight ratio that provides a rough estimate of body fat. A normal BMI is about 25.
The center expects to perform the operations on youths over three to five years. Locally, though most adult Lap-Band surgeries are completed at the center, one requirement of the study is that all adolescent procedures be completed at the Kirkland hospital.
One of the things we do is confuse obesity with immorality. We see excess weight, even in children, as evidence of moral failure and dump enormous amounts of shame on the obese. It’s sadistic, literally. Shaming people for situations they have very little control over is incredibly manipulative and destructive. To my mind, the more kids we can pull out of that cycle early, the better we are as a culture.
I’m going to do more reading on teenagers and Lap Bands. This is interesting stuff.
