The Band has no complications!!

This morning here in the UK there was a lady on TV raving about her Band there was also a consultant surgeon on there. This lady has done fantastically well lost over 10 stone with her band and has had a lot of reconstructive surgery to fix saggy skin problems in total its about £20.000 I am not sure of the exchange rate but I think that’s about $40.000 a lot of money. The consultant is quoted to have said that the Band has no complications what so ever . I have some issues with this let me out line my issues.

• While I endorse a procedure that does work I feel that if doing non direct advertising on the TV the truth should be told. Here in the UK we have the NHS WLS is available on the NHS it can take a while to get the procedure but it is available. This surgeon was representing a Private hospital were the band cost £8000 this can buy you a very nice car brand new.
• If I was in a position to be able to self fund a surgery such as WLS I would be so angry if I paid my £8000 having been told I was 100% guaranteed I would lose weight and had a 100% guarantee there would be no complications.
• The band does have the highest failure rate with UK statistics being a 20% chance of failure. And a 1 in 5 chance of further surgery being needed due to slippage or erosion. So if I have re-mortgaged my home and gone into a fancy private clinic and paid this £8000 believing the consultant. Were do I stand if I get a port infection or my band slips. Who will pay for this to be fixed will I have to pay or will I receive treatment on the NHS? If I can’t pay and the NHS won’t pay were the hell do I stand we don’t have insurance over here like the USA what position am I left in because I made a decision on the basis of what I was told.
• And I am under the impression that ANY surgery carried out has a potential danger more so if you suffer obesity?

There are so many other issues I have with this type of private surgery I like the facilities but when you pay so much money and put your hope and dreams into a cure I feel consultants have a obligation to tell the truth. If I went for IVF I would be told there is a failure rate my hope would not be raised while I know it’s a business I believe we should be told the truth and it is as simple as that.

I had my band on the NHS I have had nothing but problems and I am lucky my PCT (health Authority) have agreed to fund any medical need I may have. But my sympathies go out to those who have self funded and there left in a state because they are experiencing problems they were not told about.

On the flip side of the coin many people tend to go ahead with WLS believing it won’t happen to them like a smoker does every time they light up. But had they have been warned they would have been able to make an informed decisions. Does a consultant hold any responsibility or is it the patents responsibility to do the research?? Do you think I am nuts and on my high horse do you agree? Have you suffered complications due to the band according to the surgeon this morning there are no band complications can you prove him wrong if you had to. I think the band is a great tool for WLS some master it some don’t but it’s a complex argument I just feel information is key.

any way sorry to have bored you all i will jump off my soap box :faint:

You should cut and paste some of the complications to this board and send it to the TV station. That's blatant false advertising.

Thread Starter

last week there was a show on called dieing to be thin it showed all surery typs and was US and UK film'd

We saw how in America adverts go out on tv screaming 123456- bypass lawywers who specilise in negligence claims after a bypass. I am not saying the band is not good but i do beleive the facts should be told. when i say it was indirect advertising i meant it was a interview for day time TV but the surgion was named and interviewd and were the surgory was avilable to be that is a form of advertising because some people as a result of seeing the interview will track him down and the private hospital and sell there granny to fullfill the dream of being slim.

Unfortunatly my granny died so i had nothing to sell but had she stuck around yep she would be up for sale quick time.

I am one month post-banding and am going back to Mexico tomorrow to have it removed. The chest pressure, pain, coughing and gagging on my own mucus has just gotten unbearable. I KNOW something has to be wrong with this much pain even if the fluoro I had last week showed that everything was fine. I remember asking my patient facilitator what percent of Dr. Kuri's patients had their bands removed due to complications and was told it was almost none. When I googled LAP-BAND® complications and went to the manufacturer's website it showed that 25% had complications severe enough that they chose to have the bands removed. I would not have had the surgery (self-paid, $9,000, not to mention travel and hotel expenses) if I had known that there were this many complications. I only wanted to lose 50-70 pounds, and frankly I think my health has been a lot more compromised by the band than by my weight. Does anyone have any hints for what to do about severe under the breastbone pain? Even water is sitting very heavy on my chest and it's a frightening feeling. I looked up cardiospasm after reading it on the Inamed site and it's basically esophageal spasming caused by the esophageal sphincter locking up, this seems clearly what is going on.

Amanda, this is frightening! I think this probably is my biggest fear with banding. I read in someone else's post today that that complication may not go away???!

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Oh my goodness Amanda! Please let us know what Kuri says. I wonder what's wrong, I wonder what he says, and I wonder (and don't take this persoanlly, please!) if you could do something? different to alleviate the pains and get on with a happy band life? The pain you describe sounds like you are still very swollen and getting stuck on liquids. Not good 1 month post-op. I am very interested in your story. I'd like to know what happens and how you are doing.

Muggle, it doesn't take much research to show that banding is NOT complication-free. Shame on the doc, though.

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Kathy-Dr Kuri~April 8,2005~Inamed 9.75mm/4cc
Fills 7/11/05~10/19/05~11/16/06 .75cc total
242high/223.4surgeryday/173.6current/145goal
BMI~40.1/37/28.9/24
~5'5" 68% of excess weight gone!~
36.5 total inches lost so far! (updated 9-12-06)

Yes, I would like to know what he says too. Seems a shame that the sweeling and everything could not be healed.

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Wow the percentages keeps getting higher. When I went in for mine the complication percentage quoted to me was 1%. After all of the issues I've had and being diagnosed with slippage December 9, 2005 I was told 3-4% wind up with slippage. Now in here I've read 11% and now 20-24%?

I'm self pay, my banding cost me $14,500-15,300 in May and I had severe swelling inside for approximately three weeks, long story short wound up on Iv's for seven days at home and had to pay for those plus a couple of emergency room visits. Took out a home equity line of credit, total actual cost probably closer to $18-$20,000. Found out seven or eight months later I have slippage and it will cost me another $8000 - $9000 to have it repaired, replaced or removed. This is the hospital costs not my surgeon. I am going to have to go into credit card debt in a major way to pay for this. Not Happy! Just because I have insurance means nothing. They will not pay for anything to do with banding. So am inclined to go for removal and just try to deal with my fat as I have all my life. Have never won this battle but hey I might manage it yet. Who fails at weight loss surgery? (I do, I do)

So to answer your question of where would you stand. I would guess right about in the spot I'm sitting in at the moment, along with the shades of bankruptcy skittering around in the dark corners of my mind. I will figure this out but it's going to take a long time for me to recover from this financially not to mention health wise.

Dang, I could have had a really nice new car!

Thread Starter

Tuff Enogh i was quoting UK statistics the USA is much bigger than the UK we are a mere spot compared to your country.

In the UK we dont have insurance like you we have a NHS National Health Service free health care for everyone. We do have a private sector but its expencive. Sometimes if we go private say for the opp the after care can be moved to the NHS but it does not always work like that. The NHS is megga busy because the surgions who work in the private sector may only work for the NHS a few days a week so waiting lists are long can be years long.

It just disgusts me that simply to promote a n out service such as the band they falsyfy the statistics. its about £8000 to have a band fitted here with fills costing between £150 and £270 that depends if there done blind or by x ray then u have the cost of consultation on top and travel so to get a amercan doller convert roughly double the uk currency £270 is about a weeks wages here its just such a lot of money if u go private and then like u say to cover costs of complications it can be desaterus.

Esophageal Spasm's will go away eventually after the body adjusts. Some people react stronger than others. I got them really bad after my first fill. I was in sooo much pain, so I feel for you! It was recommended to me to use a heat pad on my chest before eating or drinking to relax the stoma/etc and to always drink a warm drink before eating my meal to prepare the esophagus. When I had a bad flare up I stuck to warm liquids and aloe vera juice for a couple days. It worked for me and I don't have the spasms or pain now. Good luck with this! Seems a shame to lose the band after paying so much!:cry (I'm a Kuri patient as well)

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Erin

09/19/05 Dr Kuri

385/283/160??
Lost 100#...100 more to go!