Why I'm considering a lawsuit...

[NewYearNewMe2010 0]

Kirafiki, you make very good points!

rlynne, while you work at getting the money together for another fill, working another program cannot hurt. Kirafiki is right on the money in regards to the band not working at it's optimum level without being properly filled.

Being banded without being filled, is like buying a brand new car, and then it has to sit in the driveway because you have no money for gas or insurance....it still could be a great car! If you let the finance company repo it without ever fueling it and driving it, you will never know how great the car might have handled, or what kind of attention you would have drawn as you drove it down the road. And that is not the fault of the car----it cannot fuel itself. Nor is it the fault of the dealership (or the Dr. in this case) for you buying a car (or a band) without the means of fueling (filling) it.

:confused:

I agree!

Great analogy!!!

[juliansmom2003 3]

I agree with the others about the lawsuit. Unless there is malpractice on your surgeon's part, they see this as a personal choice and your responsibility to research such a life altering procedure before moving forward.

I was banded the day before you and can SO relate to your frustration. Believe me, I'm in a not so good place right now because I'm just stalled, but waiting for my next fill to see if that will be my much anticipated 'green zone'/'sweet spot'. I lost 17 lbs pre-op and 32 post. Honestly, I've done all that without restriction, without the band being at an optimal fill level, so it can be done. Journaling your food and doing any type of exercise for 30 minutes, taking in approx 60-70 grams of Protein per day and 64-96 oz of Water per day will definitely help you see results. If you are hungry, have a healthy snack that has Protein (i.e. cheese stick or FF yogurt). Believe me, if everyone in Bandster hell sued their doctors when things were tough for them, they wouldn't be in business LOL

Hang in there and definitely look through this site. There are some really good posts and advice that could help you through this rough patch.

Good luck with everything!

[scottyd 0]

I really feel that you need to give it more time, get another fill. There is no foundation for your cause. However you have a wonderful base for weightloss and that is what you seek. Now you have found the site ans the support that can help you get there. I know for sure there are people here who will help.

This site is full of POSITIVE people who all have great idea's and past and present issues with the Lap-band that can be helpful. One I have for you is go to your Dr. and get a fill and talk about your frustrations of not loosing weight. Tell him/her how your feel I am sure he will care how you are feeling and work with you on your issues. We all have them that is why we all do the all the pre surgery tests that we do!!! To make sure we are mentally ready for this. Your Dr. does care.:thumbup:he is busy but he does care. Scotty D

[MrsBerggren 6]

I was in the same boat, I thought the band was worthless because I thought I should have been losing more early on. BUT, I did not start to lose until after my 3rd or 4th fill and that took 3 months to get to that point.

To think you should file a lawsuit is ridiculous.. you havent let the band do its job. You cannot criticize it until you've actually filled it enough to feel restriction. I could eat pretty much ANYTHING until I got to my sweet spot which, for me, is 6.5 cc's or something around there. Everyone is different, might take you more or less. You went through major surgery just to give up already... Didn't your doc tell you that it is not an overnight thing? You will need to constantly work with him to get to where you need to be?

You've had ONE fill, and it's going to take a lot more than that.. you better start saving to get your fills rather than blow your money on specialized foods. Use the band for what it's there for and don't think you'd win a lawsuit after you think it's failed you after one fill. You haven't even gotten started yet.

[mominkansas 2]

Jenny Craig is about $70 week which would cost the same as one fill a month.

Eating healthier costs more, its one of my gripes to tell you the truth. But I have been sick less than I ever had been, I feel better, and I know I will live longer.

[Kat817 19]

You are so right, it does cost a lot more to eat healthy!

It is 10 times as much to buy stuff to make a salad than to buy a cheapo store brand box of macaroni and cheese!

The good news is, when restriction is met, the quantity of food you take it drops so much that buying enough is not a big deal at all! Now I will always buy a really good steak, and share one with my DH as opposed to finding 2 that were both big enough and afordable.

If you break down big packages into snack sizes, and buy family packs it is cheaper sometimes. Nothing in regards to any of this is cheap......but neither was eating in the quantities I used to eat! Not to mention the medications I no longer pay for, or co pays to regular Dr. visits to check my blood pressure and blood sugar. and visits to the ortho for my aching knees.

It works out......just takes a little while, and a lot of determination to get there. But it is SO worth it!

[vlp1968 83]

Stay far away from Medifast! I tried it and it was a disaster. I was so hungry all the time I couldn't stick with it. What a waste of money! I agree, save the money for a fill. And in the mean time try to follow a lowfat/lowcarb eating plan.

[gbakerc 2]

So let me get this straight. You got a band and decided to get 1 fill and expected it to work. Unbelievable. I am aware of no promises that the band makes. For it to work you must have restriction. I have heard of a select few that achieved restriction with one fill. I have 7.7 in a 9cc band and I am just starting to get restriction. Sounds like you were ill informed or did not do research as to what it would be like. You stated you aren't losing weight no matter what you eat. What are you eating and how much? Many of us have struggled including myself but you need to realize it is a process. If you can't deal with getting the fills which give you restriction then the band will remain a silicone and plastic ornament around your stomach. You have no lawsuit but you have hope if you have the band. Good luck.

Greg

[jetsy62 0]

Although I don't think a lawsuit is warranted nor will you win, I do understand the frustration. I remember saying to both the surgeon and the therapist that I looked at the band as a severe form of behavior modification. My regular doctor gave me a diet pill that subdued hunger. It worked great for about 3 months then I don't know if my body got used to it or what but it quit working. It made you feel really uncomfortable if you overate. His nurse said that my results were typical and that after 3-4 months that seemed to be a common complaint. So, I thought the band would be a more permanent form of what this pill did. Both the surgeon and the therapist told me that with the band, if you overate you would feel bad, get sick, slime, etc. But no one told me about "cheating the band". To be truthful, I think I was better off not knowing you could do that. I was better off being "afraid" of the band for lack of a better word. I know I will get slammed for this, but I have purposely started to not chew my food so well, eating some things I shouldn't like celery, just to make myself feel uncomfortable. In some sick way I am hoping that if I do this enough, I can get my backside back on track. Yeah, I have an issue with food. It is my drug of choice. Go figure!

[DizzyLizzy 21]

I totally get your frustration, as I have only had 1 fill so far as well, not losing like I had hoped even though I think I’m doing everything I’m supposed to (I had really high expectations after hearing others’ stories) and am self pay as well. The waiting for things to get going is definitely killer! Fortunately for me, my doctor includes 6 months of fills & follow up for free and then tries to bill the later fills to insurance under his exam fee, so my insurance may cover those. You should check and see if that’s the case, or if your surgeon won’t do that, see if there is another one who will.

Also, I heard Medifast is really expensive. Is it possible that you can hold off on trying that and save the money you would use for Medifast to pay for a fill? Or perhaps get a small loan from the bank or even family/friends? I’m just trying to offer up any ideas I can think of, because I know how frustrating it is seeing your money go out the door!

But, I don’t feel you would win anything in a lawsuit, and would likely just be adding to your frustrations. Unfortunately as expensive as it is, it’s like any other weight loss program, works for some and does not work for others. I know of one person who had Lapband and a couple of people who had gastric bypass over a year ago and gained instead of losing. But, in each of those instances, they just could not change their eating habits no matter how hard they tried and stretched their pouches making the surgery ineffective. It would be so nice if it was guaranteed to work for everyone, but it’s not.

I hope you can pull together some resources to get your future fills and get your weight loss going…good luck!!!

[mominkansas 2]

I think it takes a while till you get the eat to live mentality instead of the live to eat one. it took at least 3 fills before I had to remember to eat Breakfast, and would almost forget about lunch.

I believe 80% of the band is mental, 20% is the band itself.

[illuminationlady 7]

You sound very upset and if you are not "educated" about how the band works, this is understandable. I had my surgery Dec. 16th and have had one fill on an empty band. I struggle with "food" every day. I was upset at first and then realized that I must have restriction in order to forget about when my next meal is. You need to listen to the other posters about saving your money for fills. I was not self pay so I can imagine that you are more frustrated than I am. Can you find any support groups in your area? I am going to a support group meeting tonight. They help a lot. I have met many people who thought the same as you and then they found restriction. Many of those people are at goal. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck and take the advice given here to heart! Best wishes!!!

[msdv 5]

The band is a tool not a magic bullet.

Please read some of the positive posts about the benefits of the band and start following the program, get your fill and work the band.

I spent $2000.00 with Jenny Craig and I lost 6lbs. This is one of the many plans that I tried and failed on and have thrown away thousands of dollars on.

I can't wait to be banded on 3/8/10 . I have read all the worst and the best and I'm ready to do whatever I can to lose this weight once and for all. It really surprises me how many people put themselves through surgery and then don't follow the proper procedures to get the tool to work for them.

You will file a lawsuit really!! based on what?

[kookaburra 0]

lbndoc, I can't help but agree with you. I have had depression for many years and it's often led me to blame others when things went wrong and to lack motivation to 'see things through.' This is no fault of the individual as Depression robs you of joy and life just becomes a constant struggle. I hope that you don't have depression rlynn but if you did, it could certainly help to explain the difficulties that you are having at the moment. I really do wish you all the best.

[Spartan 4]

As someone who has been involved in LapBand-related litigation, this is something I can speak about with some authority.

There are a number of issues here.

The Weight Loss Surgery industry has mushroomed into a nearly billion-dollar business over the last several years. There are good Doctors, bad Doctors, and everything in between.

I cannot begin to tell you how offended I am by the marketing tactics used by many of these Doctors and Weight Loss Surgery “mills”. Here in Southern California, you cannot go any distance at all without seeing billboards, bus-bench signs, or taxi ads spouting the virtues of “easy” weight loss with the Lap Band. Even more offensive are the Television ads that show a fat person “morphing” into a slender one.

Any one who has ever had a lap band knows that this is not the way it works. While the lap Band has been successful for many people, MOST people do not lose all the weight that they need/want to. The failure rate is pretty high. The experience with the Lap band is a crap shoot at best. And for most people who have the band, it requires a very significant amount of work and some pretty dramatic lifestyle changes. And it is THIS part of it that many of the Doctors do not tell their patients.

Now, to be fair, most reputable Doctors inform their patients going in about the realities of weight loss success with the band. But the key here is “reputable”. As with any other business, the Weight Loss Surgery industry has its share of crooks and charlatans whose primary goal is to get you into the operating room to perform a surgical operation on your wallet. They do not take the time to explain the realities of WLS, and what is expected of you, the patient. Some of them are not crooked, of course…they are merely inept. And they have lousy staffs that do NOT educate the patient and provide them with the information they need to have to increase their chances of success with the Lap Band.

On the other side of this coin is the significant population of WLS Patients who ARE given the proper information by the Doctors and Staff, but who choose to disregard the instructions provided. I was involved in a discussion here at LBT recently on this subject, and I was astounded at how many people thought it was simply “OK” to ignore the recommendations of their surgeon. So, it does work both ways. But EITHER way, it still results in a high failure rate for the band.

Now, having said all that, I do have to point out that the notion of any form of litigation in the situation being discussed here is not realistic at ALL. I will say that it is entirely probable that the OP was not given a realistic expectation of the amount of effort that would be necessary on his/her part, at least not verbally. However, I can say with almost complete certainty that these issues were covered in their entirety in the MOUNDS of paperwork that you had to fill out and sign prior to your surgery. This paperwork would have included statements to the effect that there is NO guarantee that you will lose even a single ounce as a result of the procedure. These people are not stupid…..they cover themselves very well, and you can be certain that the contract you signed is pretty airtight with regard to expectations.

Now, if your Lap Band was installed incorrectly, then you might have some recourse, but from everything the OP said, this is not the case. It is simply not functioning as he/she was led to believe.

About the best you could really do in this situation with regard to causing your Surgeon some grief would be to file formal complaints with your State Medical Board, the local Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, etc. Of course, the Chamber and the BBB have no real power, and some Chambers do not even listen to complaints. Complaining to a Medical Board is also a crap shoot, because the Doctor will claim that specific results were NOT guaranteed, etc, etc. I could go on about all of that for hours, because I have been through it….but, frankly, it is NOT worth your time. You will not force the Doctor to be more forthcoming, and you will not get anything out of it.

One other avenue would be to complain to the FTC or the FCC, if you sought out this particular doctor on the basis of Public Advertising. They COULD force the doctor to alter their marketing and advertising practices….but that is really unlikely.

The bottom line here is that litigation will get you NOWHERE.

The very best thing that you can do at this point is to turn your attention to MAKING the Lap Band work for you. Some good advice has been given to you here already, so I won’t repeat what has already been said. But you need to be very realistic about where you are at THIS point in time, and move forward from there. You have a Lap Band. We’ll assume that it has been installed correctly. You’ve had one fill….and, history proves that you will very likely need several fills before you hit the “sweet spot” that will give you the results that you want. So, before you give up, you need to consider the fact that you are not done with YOUR part of the program yet. You still need fills.

Kat817 put it very well when she likened it to buying a new car and then not driving it because there is no gas or insurance….it won’t do you any good just sitting there. And the band will not do you any good just sitting there in your gut. You need to find a way to get your fills funded, and then you will have the best chance of having your Lap-Band experience be a positive one. But it is NOT going to happen until you do YOUR part of it.

So forget any litigation. Don’t waste any time or money on that, because it will not get you anywhere. Concentrate on finding some resources to get you the fills you need. There are PLENTY of stories here on LBT about people who ALSO thought that the band was a waste, UNTIL they found the “sweet spot”….which can only be achieved through a combination of proper fill level, exercise, and proper eating habits.

That’s the bottom line. So, it’s time to move forward, and make a success out of what you have already invested.

Edited February 2, 2010 by Spartan