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Gastric Bypass (Home)
Straight answers for People Seriously Considering Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric Bypass
Surgery
How the surgery works, how much it costs, and are you a candidate

Gastric Bypass
Risks
No, it's not a perfect solution; here's what can go wrong

Gastric Bypass
Side Effects
Living with this solution can be challenging

Visco-Fiber Pill
Similar results without the risks of surgery; Safe & effective alternative gets little attention

Gastric Bypass
Alternatives
Is any option as crazy as surgery? Try before you scoff.

Gastric Bypass Books
Some of the best reading on the subject is collected here

Gastric Bypass Death Rates Underestimated

• Doris Hernandez, a 44-year-old with two kids, weighed 260 pounds and chose to have gastric bypass surgery. She died due to complications.

• Mirta Ruiz, who weighed 250 pounds, had the surgery as well - and died, leaving two kids behind.

For many fat people, gastric bypass as presented as "do this or you'll die from fat." In fact, many patients who seek a surgical solution have the same attitude. What they don't know is that their odds may be much worse than they think; the actual number of deaths from gastric bypass may be underestimated, as some estimates only consider the "best" and "most experienced" surgeons.

How much experience the surgeon had with the procedure mattered. One study found that the fatality rate was 4.7 times higher when the surgeon had done fewer than 21 surgeries. This is significant because more surgeons with comparatively little experience are beginning to offer weight-loss surgery, which can provide lucrative fees.

Some surgeons take a 1-1/2-day course and begin operating, "just like doing hernias," said weight-loss surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Rosen of the WISH Center in Downers Grove.

The fact of the matter is that health risks associated with being overweight can be dwarfed by the risk imposed by the procedure itself. While these women - who were 250 and 260 pounds - are unusually overweight, their weights were not so excessive to put them in a danger zone.