Gastric bypass surgery is rapidly becoming one of the most widely used surgical procedures in the country. Primarily for people who are overweight, can't control their weight, or even fall into the classification of morbidly obese. Sometimes people in these predicaments have no other option but to turn to surgery. Although these are elective surgical procedures, they are major surgeries requiring general anesthesia. Patients may run into trouble and have major complications or die, during the surgery or after the surgery.
The basic concept of a bypass surgery is to take a loop of bowel and bypass the major portion of the stomach, resulting in a small pouch that contains little more than 1 or 2 oz, so that when the patient eats, they feel full. But this is still a major abdominal surgery, and when problems or complications occur, it's important that patients understand that they have rights and if there is negligence involved, they have the legal right to pursue the doctors involved with these kinds of procedures.
As with any surgery, there are risks and a small percentage of people who have gastric bypass surgery experience major complications, even death; especially if medical negligence was involved. Complications can include leaking from the stomach into the abdominal cavity, resulting in infection, an infection where the incision is made, or a potential blood clot. Additional complications can develop over time including ulcers, anemia, nausea, or a hernia.
Anesthesia errors may also occur during an elective plastic surgery, such as gastric bypass, lap band, or stomach stapling. Even lipo suction, face lifts, breast augmentation, or rhinoplasty "nose job" carry anesthesia risks from medical negligence. Since many of these procedures may not be performed in a hospital, but rather in a doctor's office or other non-hospital environment, additional anesthesia risks may occur, including if the patient runs into complications with the anesthesia. In these types of environments, the doctor's office probably does not have close access to trained hospital staff that may be able to prevent major complications from occurring during an anesthesia emergency.
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