Question:
Can you weigh so much that they have no choice, but to do the surgery open?
— Tammi O. (posted on April 17, 2003)
April 16, 2003
Do you mean the insurance companies or the surgeons. For the insurance
companies, there are no laws yet forcing them to consider obesity surgery
anything but elective surgery. There are many states trying to get a law
passed.
If you mean surgeons, they are now and hopefully always free to choose who
their patients should be.
Because so many people review the surgeons statistics as a symbol of their
skill, they are reluctant to take on high risk patients.
— faybay
April 16, 2003
There are surgeons out there that will do Lap as well as Open on the
Super-Morbidly Obese. The next step is to research and find out who those
doctors are. The ability to do Lap on SMO all depends on the surgeons
skill as well as if the hospital they work from has the equipment necessary
to accomodate SMO patients. My mom and sis (although they were not in the
SMO range) went to Dr. Schauer in Pittsburgh. He has operated
Laproscopically on patients as high as 600lbs. They ended up having to
travel to him from Michigan because he was one willing to take higher risk
patients. So he may be a good place to start if you are having your heart
set on Lap (although he will still tell you that there is no 100%
gurarantee that you wont have to be converted to Open while in the OR if
necessary). I believe Dr. Champion in Atlanta is another that does Lap on
SMO patients. If you check in the library link on ObesityHelp...there is
info that you can find about Lap Drs. Also you may want to check out the
yahoo groups...there is one I am in called WLS400plus that is for people
who are pursuing surgery who are over 400lbs or have a BMI over 65.
— ImANewDee
April 16, 2003
Yes Shauer did LAP on my wife her BMI was over 60. LAP tools for supers are
expemnsive, not all surgeons have them. With your private profile it limits
how much we can help. What part of the country are you in?
— bob-haller
April 17, 2003
I started with a BMI of 50.1 (and carried my weight all in the middle) I
was able to have Lap :)
— WABBIT F.
April 17, 2003
Hi Tammy- I had a BMI of 71 when I had my Lap RNY on 2/21/03, and I carry a
lot of my weight in my abdomen. My surgeon is very experienced and had no
doubts he could do my surgery lap. Best of luck to you! Tonya Lap RNY
2/21/03 -38lbs.
— Tonya B.
April 17, 2003
Some of the most experienced bariatric surgeons in the country (Wittgrove,
Schauer, Champion, etc...) routinely do laparascopic WLS on super-morbidly
obese patients. Surgeons of this caliber have the experience, the
expertise, and the more specialized laparascopic instruments required to
perform this level of surgery. Do your research carefully....there ARE
surgeons available to meet the needs of these patients. Best wishes!
— Diana T.
April 17, 2003
depends... on doctor. My doctor recommends anyone (including myself) who is
over a BMI of 50, he will only perform open. Lap is not an option? but that
is just him? I had lap surgery 2 years ago (at about 30 pounds lighter) to
have my gall bladder removed and it wasn't even an issue?
— heather S.
April 17, 2003
My BMI was 67 I had LAP done 4/1 went home on 4/2
— Rusty A.
April 18, 2003
Weight = 440, BMI = 64, successful lap.
— jen41766
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