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Patients who underwent “weight loss surgery” without good reason were confirmed in the complaint by the Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation. Most had undergone the operation privately.
The doctors behind the study were surprised that so many received compensation because they were underweight during surgery. Photo: NTB / NTB scanpix
The “slimming operation” was carried out unsuccessfully. This is the most common reason that patients receive compensation after obesity surgery.
Shows a study in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association.
Behind it is a group of authors from the Centro de Obesidad Morbid en Salud Sureste. They have reviewed the complaints after obesity surgery.
- 44 weight loss surgeons were confirmed in their complaint by the Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation.
- 10 of the patients did not meet the criteria for BMI (body mass index) to undergo obesity surgery. In other words, they weren’t overweight enough.
– Obesity operations in cheap sales.
– These are surprising findings. The results were unexpected for us.
This is what Chief Physician Randi Størdal Lund of the Vestfold Hospital Morbid Obesity Center says.
– We think that errors and deficiencies in treatment would be the reason why patients received compensation. Not that many were underweight when they had the surgery.
He points out that it is not good medical practice to offer patients obesity surgery when the BMI requirement has not been met. Much more needs to be tried before this, including changing lifestyles.
– We have seen that obesity operations are advertised with cheap sales in summer. That worries me a lot, he says.
Størdal Lund wants quality assurance for the subject area.
Patients who requested compensation reported several negative reactions after the operation. They had chronic pain, difficulty eating, diarrhea, nausea, fatigue, and weight gain.
But such symptoms were not enough to prevail. Then a failure in treatment or follow-up must have been demonstrated.
3000 are operated every year
Doctors believe that it may take too long from when you contact a clinic until you are operated on. Some clinics advertise with short or no wait times.
The authors highlight three things that are important for a good outcome: proper patient selection, good preparation before surgery, and good information.
It is also important that an interdisciplinary team follows patients over time.
Interventions against morbid obesity have become common in Norwegian hospitals. Around 3,000 operations are carried out annually. Of these, just under 2,000 belong to the public sector and 1,000 to the private health service.
Most patients do well after the procedure. However, there is still a fairly high risk of annoying side effects and long-term complications.
