GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY SOLICITORS - MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIM

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Gastric bypass surgery is a type of surgery performed when one is severely overweight and needs surgical intervention in order to lose the weight. It involves making the stomach pouch much smaller than it normally is and creating an attachment to the small intestines that leaves portions of the small intestine that are unable to absorb nutrition. You bypass part of the stomach so it can't fill up with food. Weight loss is the only option because the stomach can't take in much food at a time and the intestines can't absorb as many calories. The most common type of gastric bypass is called the Roux-en-Y bypass surgery. If you would like advice at no cost just use the helpline or complete the contact form and a gastric bypass surgery solicitor will telephone you with no charge and no obligation.

Hundreds of thousands of individuals have some kind of bariatric or weight loss surgery performed each year. Eighty percent of all of these surgeries are the Roux-en-Y procedure. It causes the most weight loss of all the bariatric surgeries. Normally, the food enters the stomach and is partially digested. It then enters the duodenum, where food is absorbed and further digested. More absorption happens in the small intestine and the remainder ends up in the large intestine or colon. Waste is excreted from the rectum and anus at the end of the large intestine or colon.

During a Roux-en-Y procedure, a small pouch is made at the top of the stomach using a series of staples. A cut is made in the small intestine and the distal end is attached to the pouch. The proximal end of the small intestine is attached further down on the intestines, making a Y shaped small intestine. The proximal part of the small intestine does not take in food and absorbs nothing. The procedure can be done in an open procedure or through a laparoscopy tube, which uses a camera and tiny tools to operate on the parts of the intestines and stomach. You can return to normal activities within a month or so.

After the procedure is performed, you will be unable to eat more than a couple of ounces of food at a time. You will feel full after just a few bites of food. You need to eat slowly and should chew your food extensively. If you don't do this, you will likely vomit your intake. You can't drink for thirty minutes before and after a meal and you can't drink with a meal. You will need to take in supplements to make up for the poor absorption of food. Vitamins are important to take in. Junk foods that contain sugar cannot be taken in or you will get dumping syndrome. This causes shaking, dizziness, sweating and a rapid heart rate because food is getting through the system too fast. Diarrhea can also result from dumping syndrome.

Gastric bypass is indicated when a person has a body mass index or BMI greater than 40 or have a disabling condition because of your weight, such as arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. Many doctors require a trial of other weight loss techniques before trying bariatric surgery. You can't have an alcohol problem, you need to be obese for at least five years, you cannot have untreated depression and you should be between 18 and 65 years of age. You can't have any contraindications to having surgery.

Weight loss occurs for up to a year after the surgery. Most people lose a third of their excess weight although, in some cases, the weight can be partially regained. Overall sixty nine to eighty two percent of excess weight is lost over the following four years.

Risks of bariatric surgery include leakage from the stomach pouch or the rest of the incised areas, causing peritonitis. Bacteria can pass from the intestines or stomach and can pass into the intestinal space. You can get a pulmonary embolus from a blood clot forming in your leg in the peri-surgical period. About a third of all who have bariatric surgery develop gallstones, anemia or osteoporosis from poor nutrient intake. Surgery is somewhat risky, leading to death in less than ten out of a thousand cases. Vitamin B12 deficiency is common (thirty percent) and iron deficiency anemia is common. Around five to fifteen percent of individuals can get stomach ulcers and staples can come loose. There can be a ventral hernia from open surgery and you can get uncontrollable hiccups, vomiting, nausea and bloating.

HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 633 634

Medical Negligence Solicitors

Our medical negligence solicitors will maximise your personal injury compensation claim using a no win no fee arrangement which means that if you don�t win then you don�t pay them their professional costs. If you believe that your Gastric Bypass Surgery was carried out negligently then just complete the contact form or email our solicitors offices or use the helpline and a Gastric Bypass Surgery solicitor will telephone you at no cost and with no obligation.

HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 633 634

The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here