So my surgeons Dr choi from montifiore and she seems like a very very honest straight to the point doc. She's never had any law suits , people ice spoken to that have had surgery with her say she's great and their doing great with their WLS . She works with doc camacho & valupani. Now I was doing some research on the other 2 surgeons that work with my surgeon and found out one of them had 4- lawsuits and 1 wrongful death. Now my surgeon hasn't had any lawsuits but her colleague has , should I be worried? And now I'm scared of being that 1#

Any surgery can kill you. That's a reality. If you trust your surgeon, don't stress over this. Believe me, no one wants to be that person, but there are usually so many things that can happen that make a person sue the Dr:

- they didn't follow the diet and died

- they didn't listen to the activity restrictions and died

- they got sick (pre-existing condition not discovered until surgery)

I can go on and on. The fact is, it is usually not in a vacuum that people sue Drs just look at some of the cases you see on TV. It is amazing what people will sue for.

Agreed. On the one hand, it's very important to be aware of complications, your risk for them and your doctor's track record for this particular surgery. If he had a number of deaths or suspicious statistics, I'd worry.

Ultimately, you either trust him or you do not and should pursue a different surgeon.

And people sue over the absolute DUMBEST things sometimes - not all cases are warranted - so unless you know specifics it's hard to gauge.

~Cheri

Thanks for your advice. My surgeon hasn't had and lawsuits or deaths its jut that finding out that she works with another surgeon that's being sued not once but 4 times and one of them is for wrongful death, worries the hell outta me. Ughhh I hate playing the doubting game

No matter where you go, no matter who does your surgery, you cannot get any guarantee that complications or death will not occur.

I took that chance after doing my due diligence finding my surgeon. At the end of the day it was a chance I was willing to take because morbid obesity was killing me already.

Yes....picking the right surgeon is important.

But also....morbid obesity is much more likely to kill you than VSG.

I think the smart thing is to do your research (as you are doing) to reduce your risk as much as possible...then go for it knowing that you're giving yourself the best chance to live.

Along with everything others have said, I also thought my chances of getting into a car wreck while driving to see the doctor were about as high as my risk of death from surgery so.....it's all relative.

Thank you!!! I won't lie! I'm terrified of the unknown. I thank you so much for your thoughts & honesty! Best of luck to all!! I hope I can make the right decision.

Thank you!!! I won't lie! I'm terrified of the unknown. I thank you so much for your thoughts & honesty! Best of luck to all!! I hope I can make the right decision.

The fact that you're researching and asking questions indicates to me that you'll likely make a good decision....just my opinion but I think you're on the right track.

I agree. Researching and asking questions helps you make an educated decision, and it seems you're on your way. I have had many surgeries and each time I researched and inquired until I was confident I knew everything I needed to know about my procedures. There are risks associated with any surgery minor or major. However, you should be focused on living not dying. That's the reason you're considering surgery. I wish you well no matter what you decide.

Just to chime in, the statistics on 'things going wrong' is all relative.

The more surgeries a surgeon has conducted, the higher likelihood something, at some time, has gone wrong.

It's easy to score 10/10 - if all you've done is 10. If you've done 15,000, your chances of something happening, are increased. As said above, anything outside the control of the surgeon could have caused the problem (although I'd be wanting a bit more data on the 'wrongful' death)

Think of it a bit like Ebay (sorry for the crass comparison, but it works). If you see a 'power seller' with 1,400 reviews and they're 97.8 positive? That's effectively what you're looking at with surgeons, too.

I have worked in the legal profession for many years previously, and chances your doctor has been sued at some time. A defense verdict may have been granted, or the case settled before suit was filed. With the number of lawsuiits filed, it is rare to find a doctor that has not been sued at least one time. Some of the suits are legitimate and some are nonsense. So even if your doctor was sued, I would examine the court documents to see what was the charge and what was the verdict on the case. Some areas of the country are more friendly to the plaintiff (patient) and other areas of the country are more friendly to the defense (doctor, hospital, clinic).

If you are really concerned, ask the doctor about it. They should not be afraid to discuss it.

Things happen. As other posters have said, have confidence in your doctor and do everything you can do to control the things you can like following pre-op instructions etc. By doing what you are doing you are taking control of what you can and mitigating your risks.

Good luck and a speedy recovery.