I don't want to cause problems but I heard this on the radio this morning.  Please listen if you're considering using these people.
Mind you I myself went out of country for bariatric surgery so don't get me wrong and think I am just against going out of the country.  I just heard this and thought I should pass it on...
http://radionow1009.com/Article.asp?id=557087
Scroll down to the audio files and listen to the one titled "they stole my kidney".
Take care,
Sancy:D

Couldn't find it Stacey

I don't have speakers on this computer.  Would you be kind and just type up what they said.  I am curious to know.

Basically 2 women call in to this radio station saying the went together to Mexico to have lapband surgery and one of them came back without one of their kidneys. She claims she did not know anything about it until she got an MRI and the tech scolded her for not mentioning she only had one kidney. She was having the MRI because of continued pain from her surgery. She claims she contacted the hospital in MX and the program named above and that all of them claim to never have heard of her and that she was never a patient there.
I am curious how this "victim" did not notice the large scar she would have had if her kidney had actually been removed. Not to mention that her family, friends, ER staff, MRI staff etc must have also overlooked the large scar. This kind of story has been around forever about folks waking up in various places without their kidney.
It is scary to me that the radio station and all the readers of posts like these not only believe this stuff without question but pass it on to others as "fact" and in need of warnings.
I actually emailed Belitemexico and advised them this is being posted on OH with a warning to others.
Keep in mind that while I did have my surgery in Mexico I am not connected with belitemexico at all.

woww...that is scary.  But you're right, there's no way a person can not notice a scar on their back from the surgery and whatever else you go through when a kidney is taken out.  I'll go into Snopes.com and see if there is anything written about this.  I had my surgery in Mexico myself but I did alot of research before I did this.  Have you heard of dr. Zapata from www.ready4achange.com?  

Could the kidney have been remove through on of the incisions that are required to place the lap band? That would leave no unusual scars.
Cheryl

While kidney removal can be done lap method the scars would be bigger and look different from doing the lap band. The research I did showed the scars would be about 2 inches long or longer. I had the sleeve not the lap band but I would have noticed a scar more than twice the size of my other ones.
This kind of rumor has been around in one form or another for years.

http://www.laparoscopyinurology.com/kidneyremov.html According to this website, the scars would be .5 and 1cm, and barely noticeable after surgery.  I'm going to look it up now, I would think that the lap band scars would be similar in size.

If the kidney is to be removed, this can be done by enlarging one of the instrumentation sites suitably .

Interestingly your site supports what I was saying that the scar/incision size for the kidney removal would be markedly different from the ones used for lapband.

I continue to be puzzled how this story continues to circulate the net and folks continue to believe it.

Just to clarify...my intent is not to 'bash'...like I said, I went out of the country too.  And this one isn't just an urban legend passed around in an email somewhere.  I actually heard the broadcast. 
Also I want to emphasize- I am not saying this is true or a made up tale, I'm just giving the information and you are all adults here you can make up your own minds about it.  But what kind of person would I be if I heard something that could potentially harm my fellow bariatric buddies and just blow it off and not pass it on...again, I'm not pushing any opinions of mine on others I am just sending info that you, as capable adults, can make your own mind up about it!
-Sancy

I am not suggesting you were trying to bash. I am just saying I do not believe this incident actually occured. I am also giving examples of why I do not believe it to be true and my investment is not so much to make up their minds on where to go for surgery but to ask folks to use some critical thinking skills when faced with this type of "true story".

Some people are born with only one Kidney and never know. also sometimes one withered non functioning kidney..

They cannot remove a Kidney with a scope-They are located flank wise and it would be VERY painful afterward.Propaganda spreads rapidly.

I have been a surgical nurse for years.
A kidney can be removed via lap surgery---but it must be broken up into pieces first!
A kidney that is being removed for transplantation into another human being must be taken out WHOLE!
This would require a much bigger incision.
The websites about kideny removal listed here are not specific about the reason for the kidney removal.
A cancerous kidney gets hacked up and taken out bit by bit, a kidney for transplant must be removed whole and delicately, not bruised or injured, to increase the success rate of the transplant.
There are places in this world where this kind of stuff happens. But if someone wants to sell your kidney, it needs to be whole and intact.

JMHO

Bonnie