The "Louisiana Experiment" Sounds Like B.S. to Me!
Big Surgery, that is... What's with this?
Louisiana Takes Gamble on Gastric Surgery
Overweight residents and the state of Louisiana are taking a gamble in a $1 million experiment to find out whether gastric bypass surgery saves money for the state's insurance program.
Have things been a little slow for surgeons and anesthetists lately? Falling behind on the Hummer payments? Do the state's hospitals need to drum up some business? This million dollar "experiment" has every likelihood of costing the state, and the victims of this surgical-mutilation-in-search-of-slimness far more than that - in terms of negative outcomes that could ruin, destroy, or even end lives.
Make no mistake folks - Gastric Bypass Surgery is very serious surgery, involving general anesthesia (always risky and physically stressful by itself), open abdominal surgery (involving cutting open the belly to get at the stomach - this is a ~big~ cut!), cutting, manipulating, stapling and/or suturing the stomach (which results in no small risk of infection, scarring, adhesions, leaks, and other bad outcomes), and then, finally, putting everything back together again, hopefully to heal up without excessive scarring, infection, or other problems.
Let's see now: an obese patient is already at very high risk during any surgical procedure, an obese patient is at very high risk during the immediate post operative recovery period, an obese patient remains at especially high risk during the later post operative recovery phase, and because the fat that the surgeon had to dig down through to get to that stomach is not so well supplied with blood, it is not going to heal so quickly, and is at higher risk for infection or even dehisance (bursting open of the surgical incision). Then, having made it this far, that patient is looking at several months of recovery, and rebuilding strength that follows any Big Surgery. "Weak as a kitten" are some of the first words I ever heard from my post-op patients, quickly followed by "it hurts like hell - when can I have a shot!"
Whew! - does this sound like acceptable risk? Certainly NOT, for a surgery that has in no way been proven to improve or increase lifespan or healthspan!
This sounds like the state is offering to take responsibility for overeating away from the overweight. Yes, there are people who are addicted to food, just like there are people addicted to cigarettes, and alcohol, and heroin. Still, in the most basic analysis, food, like any addiction, is a personal choice. As one victim, oops, "patient" was quoted as saying "I was raised in New Orleans with all the wonderful food. It's everywhere coming from every direction," he said. "You come down here you eat, you drink, you eat, you drink," another added. Have none of these people ever heard of "Just Say No"?
So now, in addition to what it costs us to care for the ravages of smoking, or alcohol, or drugs, (all of which area drain on the public purse, despite the fact that they are very personal and very self-destructive choices) the public will begin to foot the bill for people's addiction to food.
Don't get me wrong - I love food and drink. I could be induced to acts of desperation for a good fried oyster po'-boy, and I salivate like one of Pavlov's dogs at the thought of a bowl of New Orleans' finest gumbo, all washed down with a pint or two of Turbodog or Abita Dark beer. And to start the day with begniet and coffee at Cafe du Monde, then end it with a glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe near Jackson Square - what bliss, what heaven! But I also know that meals like these are probably my allowance of carbs and calories for a week - so I eat accordingly, and I say "no" when I'm full. (well, I say "no" most of the time - I'm no saint either...)
I have a better idea. If the state wants to spend a bunch of money, and wants to help obese people reduce their weight, regain their health, and find a healthy lifestyle and eating style that will benefit them for the rest of their lives, let it do this: Put that $1 million in the bank. Offer half of the $25,000 that the surgery is estimated to cost per patient, that is, $12,500, to each person who can prove (with photos and doctor certification) after one year that he or she has reduced their weight by non-surgical means from "morbidly obese" to a low-normal BMI, and then, when they have kept the weight off for a full five years, reward them with the other half - the other $12,500. That is a 'way better reward than the potential for a lifetime of problems following a Big Surgery, and the people who have kept the weight off for the full 5 years will have learned a new lifestyle that will keep them healthy and active for the rest of their days. The state will win, earning interest on that million bucks, and saving the expense of caring for the negative outcomes that will certainly accompany some of these Big Surgeries.
And just one final note: For those of you who say "I just can't do it - I just can't lose weight / stop eating / say no", I'm gonna recommend that they try The Myatt Diet - you will eat like kings (and queens), and still lose weight and regain health. It can be done! I know, 'cause I've done it! Contact Dr. Dana Myatt at 1-800-DR.MYATT for a personal consultation or go to our website www.drmyattswellnessclub.com to start your journey to better health.
Cheers,
Nurse Mark
9:48:00 AM 
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