...continued
Are you a candidate for weight loss surgery?
Recent press has exposed that some obese individuals actually attempt to gain weight in order to meet the minimum BMI for surgery. This is a dangerous gamble, as it makes you more prone to co-morbidities such as diabetes, breathing disorders, and arthritis. If your BMI is too low to qualify for surgery, you should aggressively pursue other methods of weight reduction instead.
Gastric bypass surgery is dramatic and life-changing, and it cannot be easily reversed. As a result, the qualifications for surgery should not be taken lightly. If someone who is not an appropriate candidate undergoes surgery, he or she may face an increased number of complications, including nausea and malnutrition.
But for the right candidate-someone who squarely meets the NIH guidelines and can commit to a new way of eating-weight loss surgery can induce significant weight loss, improve co-morbidities, raise energy levels, and restore functional status.
You’ve done a lot of soul searching. You’ve done your homework, discussed the situation with your physician and finally made an informed decision: gastric bypass surgery is the best course of action to treat your chronic, morbid obesity. You’ve learned that it can greatly enhance the quality of your life, and in fact may even save it.
You’ve met with a bariatric surgeon in our center, and he or she says that you’re an appropriate candidate for this surgery. You’ve been informed of the risks and benefits, and you have a realistic assessment of the outcome, both short and long term.
To get this far took inner strength, persistence and optimism. You may still feel nervous, but for the first time in years you have real hope. You’re ready to go. Suddenly, you’re stopped cold by two obstacles you may not have anticipated:
(1) the cost, which averages over $25,000 in most locations in the world (but not here), and
(2) the attitude of your insurance company, self-insured plan or HMO, which is either reluctant to pay or has flat-out refused coverage.
You may feel discouraged, hopeless, and eventually decide to give up or you may blindly dive headlong into this David & Goliath battle with your insurer, hoping for the best, but secretly fearing the worst.
The experience of other successful patients shows that even a denial of coverage by your insurer can be turned around. Getting insurance coverage for your gastric bypass surgery is a battle you can win. And in doing so, you also help pave the way for others who will be following your path in the future.
See an excerpt from Professor Weiner's book: Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass for Morbid Obesity
Copyright 2005
Professor Rudolf Weiner, MD
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