If you go to www.surgery.com, it will tell you the following (I got this from typing "deaths from sleeve gastrectomy" into my search engine)

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery lists the complication rate in vertical sleeve gastrectomy to be relatively low, even among patients considered to be at high risk. Cumulatively the overall mortality (death) from vertical sleeve gastrectomy is 0.39 percent—lower than with traditional bariatric surgeries. (last updated 11/24/2009)

From an article on www.gastricbypassfacts.com, here is a extract from "How Does the Sleeve Gastrectomy Work?"

The risks and complications of the sleeve gastrectomy:As with all forms of weight loss surgery, the vertical gastrectomy does carry risk and these will clearly vary from one patient to the next and must be discussed with your physician. Complications might include:

• Gastric leakage and fistula 1.0%
• Deep vein thrombosis 0.5%
• Non-fatal pulmonary embolus 0.5%
• Post-operative bleeding 0.5%
• Splenectomy 0.5%
• Acute respiratory distress 0.25%
• Pneumonia 0.2%
• Death 0.25%

http://healthengine.com.au/article/sleeve-gastrectomy.html

This article quotes " The mortality rate in gastric sleeve is 1:500 and it lies between the gastric band, which is the safest, and the laparoscopic gastric bypass, which carries the highest risk."

So the first source says 3.9 patients out of 1000, the second source says 2.5 patients out of 1000 and the third says 2 out of 1000. So I would feel comfortable (based on these 3 sources) saying the death rate is somewhere between 2 and 4 per 1000.

To contrast that - imagine 1000 people walking around that are your height and weight - with your exact health problems. How many of them would die in the next year from their health problems?

From something I was reading this week on another forum - surgeons who perform 100 or more sleeves per year have lower risk rates. Hospitals that perform over 150 sleeves per year have lower risk rates.

If you are considering a surgeon, ask how many procedures he/she has performed in a year, and how many he/she has performed in total. Then ask the same two questions about how many of his patients died. This will give you an idea where your surgeon is versus the norms. Also ask about the hospital you will have the surgery performed in - how many procedures do they do a year?

Any surgery is scary and has risks. You can't go through life avoiding all risks. For me - the risk of dying of heart problems from NOT DOING this surgery and staying obese was much higher than the risks from the surgery. This surgery was the right decision for me. I wish you good luck on making your decision.

I had post op internal bleeding with my vgs. At one time my heart rate was 34 and my blood pressure was 50/0 (stage 3 shock with an 80% mortality rate). My husband (we are both paramedics) saved my life because the nursing staff was too stupid to recognize the signs. Would I do it again, knowing the risks? Absolutely! I knew I was slowly dying, due to my weight. I had no health problems but was constantly in pain and had a lot of trouble doing my job. It was a matter of time. I have lost 150 pounds and want to lose 40 more.

My health was so bad that was so sure I wiuld not make it 10 more years.

I allowed a surgeon to partially knock me out to inspect my heart and arteries and I was super scared about that. I thought about the risks of finding clogs and needing open heart surgery. None of that happened. I'm still recovering from the groin surgery. My sleeve surgery is scheduled for 8/28/14. I expect I'll still be recovering from the groin surgery when I'm recovering from the sleeve surgery. I'm just going for it so I can get on with my life getting thinner instead of getting fatter.

@@CowgirlJane

It makes me very skeptical of WLS death reporting since I suppose that if it happens after surgery it isn't counted as due to WLS. It probably all says heart failure...

I think that when death happens AFTER WLS surgery, it can greatly depend on the person. Some of us have been obese for so long that it is VERY difficult to comply to all of the rules and regulations of such a drastic change. My doctor also stated this fact that if we don't comply AFTER surgery the mortality risk is greater. (This is not counting leakage or any other surgeon related mistakes)

I understand what you're saying too I had a premature birth and my son was doing great, he developed sepsis that lead to kidney and other organ failure yet, his death certificate read, prematurity and organ failure! I found years later after statue of limitations, that sepsis is a "hospital" disease

risk reward trade off. For me it was worth the minor risks. I am still young (strong body) and strong heart. I knew I could take the surgery.