Medical tourism in bariatric surgery

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Publicado el: 2010-04-03

Paquetes Cirugía de Obesidad

 Am J Surg. 2010 Mar 24. [Epub ahead of print]

Medical tourism in bariatric surgery.


Birch DW, Vu L, Karmali S, Stoklossa CJ, Sharma AM.

Center for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Royal Alexandra Hospital, 10240 Kingsway, Edmonton, Alberta, T5H 3V9 Canada; Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

BACKGROUND: The number of Canadians who self-refer for bariatric surgery outside of Canada or to private clinics within Canada remains undefined. The outcomes from this questionable practice have not been evaluated systematically to date. METHODS: We completed a chart review of known cases referred to our center for complications related to medical tourism and bariatric surgery. RESULTS: We present a series of patients who have experienced complications because of medical tourism for bariatric surgery and required urgent surgical management at a tertiary care center within Canada. Complications have resulted from 3 commonly used procedures: adjustable gastric banding, gastric sleeve resection, and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. CONCLUSIONS: Because of this review, we propose that a medical tourism approach to the surgical management of obesity-a chronic disease-is inappropriate and raises clear ethical and moral issues.

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PMID: 20346442 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]