If there was to be a Class Action lawsuit against lap band and related companies, would you join it? My surgeon really believes its going to be yanked off for the market because as a medical device its failure rate is extremly high with high rate of complications that are way outside the margin of accepted standards for the FDA. I'm not sure I would though. I'm not the suing type.

I would....

I'm in! Please let me know when you hear anything. I know a few others who had horrible experiences with the band as well.

I'm in, have had problems, horrible acid reflux, wakes me up in the middle of the night. Who knows the damage that has been done.

No, I wouldn't even though I had a few problems and lost over 100 lbs. When I read my paperwork before being banded it spoke of realistic expectations and I expected some problems being that the Lapland Device is a Foreign Object placed in your body..... meaning you weren't born with it and a possibility that your body will start to reject the device causing not so pleasant complications.

No, I wouldn't even though I had a few problems and lost over 100 lbs. When I read my paperwork before being banded it spoke of realistic expectations and I expected some problems being that the Lapland Device is a Foreign Object placed in your body..... meaning you weren't born with it and a possibility that your body will start to reject the device causing not so pleasant complications.

It is not about the body rejecting the band it is about the fact that the band damages the esophagus and the stomach wall or corroding into the stomach. Those things are just a matter of fact because of the fact that this idea of a band "strangling" our stomachs is just being a faulty concept to begin with. Believe me I was one of the illusional people who thought that this is a god given alternative to getting my stomach cut away.

I had the band put in place almost 11 years ago and just got it removed last September. And I am glad I did ..... all my suffering from pain, GERD and blockage and vomiting is a nightmarish memory of the past. I have irreparable damage to my esophagus muscles and spinster, which will remind me of a $18,500-mistake I have made because the companies pushing sales of a medical devise, which many responsible surgeons now reject to put in. But companies still advertise agressivly and all because of the money being made and not the well-being of the patient.

If you read reports from bariatric conferences and what surgeons have to say you will see that they see this devise as a failed mistake.

I have the gastric sleeve now and am happy with it, happier than I have ever been.

I've had G.E.R.D. , constant vomiting, sliming, irritated esophagus, spasms of esophagus sphincter, h-pylori and etc. My band caused all of those problems for me. That's a chance we all took to loose weight.....BITTER SWEET ......Im happy with the new me but, will be having the band to sleeve revision to continue on my weightloss journey. Who's to say the sleeve want cause problems later.....a chance I'm taking once more.

You know #catherincaddle I have the same fears. What if there is some horrible unknown about the sleeve?

Difference is I have had years of delight, pleasure, gratitude at not.being food driven and obese with the sleeve. I want to LIVE but honestly I wasn't doing that before so I rolled the dice and so far no regrets at all.

3 years post op. 2 years at goal. Half my former weight. Keeping fingers crossed and working that sleeve! !

Edited February 17, 201511 yr by CowgirlJane

My theory on the sleeve is thus, my grandmother had one in the 80's basically. She had stomach cancer and they did almost the same procedure as they did on us, loaded her up with chemo and she lived a lovely long life until she died of lung cancer many years later.

Once the stitching on the stomach closes over to me I am ok, unless I spring a leak and let stomach acids into my abdomen. They didn't reroute my intestines, they didn't leave anything behind except medical grade staples. You can live without much of a stomach as cancer patients have proved for years.

For the band I think the band itself is great, I had mine lost all the weight when it is placed well and the patient works with the band at least for me.

The problems with the band come from Dr's and training, placement of the band, inadequate followup, fill etc. All that comes from how the surgeons are trained by the band manufacturers to make it work.

I would join 100 %! While I have been approved to have my band removed and then revision sleeve, with insurance, my portion would still be approximately $13,000. Why? Most insurances won't pay for the removal. They will cover the revision and it is all tied in with the surgeon but since I have $6000 out of pocket and the surgeon isn't contracted for removal, that cost is on me. I am stuck with this "thing" inside my body, even though I have developed a hernia and am no closer to my goal weight than I was when I had this put in, in 2008. I know that some of it is me, of course, but due due severe spinal issues I can not exercise the way I did in the past and unless starving, I am at a loss. I had the band opened completely and while food goes down, the nerve endings in my stomach have been altered to the point that I just don't feel full or even satisfied. The hormones released to tell the brain, stop eating, you are full also seem to be off. I will be seeing an eating disorder specialist but as a cash patient, for the lapband, all I want is to be reimbursed to have this horrible device taken out. I don't even care as much about revision but I don't want this in me anymore. I feel that as a patient the description of feeling "full" was so incredibly misleading and it has caused an even worse effect on disordered eating. I have to work diligently to not gain weight now that it is open. I feel that everything has changed so much metabolically and physically that I was never warned about as a side effect.

Count me in

Medical Professionals as myself understands that when a foreign object is introduced into your body it's a great chance of having complications because, your body is trying to reject it. My band did what it was suppose to do, while my body was and still is trying to get rid of it. After being frowned on by society, called names & hearing all kinds of fat jokes we we're just desperate to loose weight at that time and got that band to fit in.

I hope the lawsuits are coming. I am never the type to sue but I think I should have some compensation.I am a heart patient and I am having to pay out of pocket 19,000.The fact all the surgeons are admitting that it is not working and everybody having complications they are still performing this procedure in some patients. I lost 80 lbs. but then I started having problems with my band rejecting it and regaining 40 lbs. haven't been able to work out because all the fatigue with the inflammation. My heart condition deteriated some. I am know excited about having the sleeve. and get back on tract to my recovery. My surgery is scheduled for June 16

Sign me up!

Brian1360 I'll be praying for your success

I'm the OP for this topic and wow almost three years later it's still very much a hot topic! I have lost 100 pounds am at goal for over a year. The sleeve is amazing and way better than the band. Still waiting on the ads for class action haven't seen any yet.