The Norwalk Hospital malpractice lawyers at Berkowitz and Hanna LLC represent individuals who experienced serious complications following procedures such as weight loss surgery at the Norwalk Hospital. If you feel that inadequate care resulted in injury to you or someone you love, contact a Connecticut Norwalk Hospital weight loss surgery malpractice lawyer for help today.
A brochure reproduced on the hospital’s web site lists weight loss procedures that are performed and provides details on the two most common ones. Which procedure a patient has is determined by his or her own individual situation. The procedures offered include:
Of these, the two most common according to the hospital, are gastric bypass surgery and gastric banding surgery. Both procedures, using different techniques, surgically create a smaller stomach. This allows the patient to feel fuller faster, curtails how much food can be eaten at any one time, and reduces the number of calories and the amount of food that are absorbed.
This surgery is performed by making a minimum number of tiny incisions through which thin surgical tools are used to staple off a small part of the stomach. This becomes the new stomach. The larger part is discarded. The stomach is then attached to the small intestines, which have been rearranged so that less food and fewer calories reach them. The patient feels fuller faster and fewer calories are absorbed. In general patients lose about 75 percent of excess body weight.
This procedure also makes a smaller stomach surgically. The surgeon places a silicone band (the Lap-Band® or the Realize Band®) around the upper part of the stomach. The band is attached by a thin flexible tube to a port just under the skin. The band, accessible through the port, is adjustable so that during follow-up visits the surgeon uses saline to enlarge or decrease the size of the band and therefore the stomach pouch, matching them to an individual patient’s needs. This procedure produces an average loss of about 60 percent of excess body weight.
Like any type of surgery, bariatric surgery comes with risks. In addition to infection, other risks of surgery include reaction to anesthesia, blood clots, death (only rarely), bleeding, leaks, problems with the lungs or breathing, bowel obstruction, dumping syndrome (diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting), low blood sugar, hernia, malnutrition, perforation of the stomach, or ulcers.
As with any surgery, weight loss surgery comes with a list of risks. However, if you feel that your complication or injury such as severe infection, blood clot, perforation of the stomach, or any other type of complication was caused by medical malpractice or negligence, you may be able to seek compensation by filing a claim. To speak with a Norwalk Hospital weight loss surgery malpractice lawyer in Connecticut, contact Berkowitz and Hanna LLC today.
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