Soooo...did more research and found that my surgeon participated in a bypass that caused a man to lose his legs...

Blood clots happen.

My brother in law lost a leg in an emergency aortic dissection surgery. His surgeon is brilliant, the top of his field, and did absolutely everything possible to avoid problems....and it was just bad luck.

It happens. To even the very best of the best. Even when you're doing clot preventative treatments...it can happen. Sometimes luck is just bad.

Another cause of leg loss after surgery might be an extremely bad infection....which, again....can happen. It shouldn't, and we hope it doesn't. But it happens.

Rather than ditch your surgeon, maybe you should talk to him about what happened?

We like to think of these surgeries as completely safe, but they really are not.

As surgeries go...they're quite safe....but they're still major surgery.

And major surgery carries risk.

A certain number of people will have a very bad experience. Odds of a bad experience increase with multiple factors.

That said....remaining morbidly obese is not safe either. It carries major risks, and there's a reason that tricky word "morbid" is in there.

Weigh the benefits-vs-risk.

That's all we can do. Make the best call we can, and cross our fingers.

If picking a different surgeon helps you sleep at night....by all means...do. But remember....there are no guarantees.

Blood clots happen.
My brother in law lost a leg in an emergency aortic dissection surgery. His surgeon is brilliant, the top of his field, and did absolutely everything possible to avoid problems....and it was just bad luck.
It happens. To even the very best of the best. Even when you're doing clot preventative treatments...it can happen. Sometimes luck is just bad.
Another cause of leg loss after surgery might be an extremely bad infection....which, again....can happen. It shouldn't, and we hope it doesn't. But it happens.

Rather than ditch your surgeon, maybe you should talk to him about what happened?

We like to think of these surgeries as completely safe, but they really are not.
As surgeries go...they're quite safe....but they're still major surgery.
And major surgery carries risk.
A certain number of people will have a very bad experience. Odds of a bad experience increase with multiple factors.

That said....remaining morbidly obese is not safe either. It carries major risks, and there's a reason that tricky word "morbid" is in there.
Weigh the benefits-vs-risk.
That's all we can do. Make the best call we can, and cross our fingers.
If picking a different surgeon helps you sleep at night....by all means...do. But remember....there are no guarantees.

I read the statement from the board which said the surgeon punctured the aortic valve which cause heavy bleeding. When the valve was punctured it was closed back up as if she didn't know it was the aortic valve. The patient was rushed to a different hospital for treatment which is when another nurse noticed his legs were cold. Legs were amputated from the knees up. The surgeon was required to pay 1500 and go thru additional training. I know I missing a lot of detail but I sent the report to myself to share with my family.

If I ask her about this situation I'm sure it will be awkward for her and myself...I REALLY like her and what's the chances of that happeneing again but still make me very concerned. Hope I'm not scaring others into not having surgery...[emoji52][emoji53]

I could be an advocate for the doctor and say she isn’t performing heart surgery on you though.

I would ask the doctor when did this incident happen in her career. And see how long she has been performing WLS & ask how many weight loss surgeries she has performed and what her stats are...then go from there.

if she can’t answer these questions in a timely fashion or she hesitates at some point, continue finding another surgeon.

All surgeries are a risk. I even asked my doc what his patient mortality rate was. You must trust your surgeon. If you leave her office feeling confused and indecisive, find another surgeon

7 hours ago, TaylorMade4One said:

I read the statement from the board which said the surgeon punctured the aortic valve which cause heavy bleeding. When the valve was punctured it was closed back up as if she didn't know it was the aortic valve. The patient was rushed to a different hospital for treatment which is when another nurse noticed his legs were cold.

What is the source of this "report"?

It's bogus.

The aortic valve is pretty much in the center of a person's heart. To puncture an aortic valve, you'd literally have to stab someone in the heart. And it would kill them. Bariatric surgeries are abdominal. There would be no instruments in the thoracic cavity.

The other fishy thing about the story is this absurd claim "The surgeon was required to pay 1500 and go thru additional training."

No. This is not how it works.

If someone loses their legs after surgery and medical negligence is found, the surgeon's insurance company pays out about 50 million dollars. A board would review the surgeon's actions and they would either keep their license or lose it. There would be no "additional training".

Please check your source. You either have your details VERY mixed up....or you are being scammed.

If you have a link to the report, I'd love to read it.

I'm not suggesting a serious internal bleed isn't possible. It is. But the much more likely cause would be a spleen bleed. If the aorta were involved, it would be the abdominal aorta (far, far away from the aortic valve)....but I can't imagine the patient living to be transferred to another hospital.

Talk to the surgeon. If she's still practicing, chances are good there is more to the story than meets the eye. (or, it's a grossly misreported incident)

Edited May 3, 20188 yr by Creekimp13

Maybe it wasn't the aortic "valve " but the man doesn't have legs as a result and the document I read and have saved is from the Texas medical board. It list her, her attorney and it was signed by her. I will ask her but definitely glad I found the info.

Agree with Creek here.

My surgeon was very forthcoming about bad outcomes he had previously when he spoke to our group. He answered questions about common complications and about what his actual numbers were. If you like the surgeon, sometimes it is worth that conversation that makes you feel awkward.

Watch a bypass surgery and you can see where the organs are. You cannot see heart or lungs during this surgery.

All of our surgeons could very well perform a thoracic surgery being that most are general surgeons. So this is not uncommon for a surgeon to perform in the thoracic region.

My curiosity got the better of me on this and I found an article that follows the rough details you've given.

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article4115524.html

Yeah, this is a mess.

I don't know how the hell they could misidentify the abdominal aorta...it's a garden hose.

Yikes....yeah.

There, of course, could be a lot of information missing. Could the patient have had very unusual anatomy? (some people do) Could his abdominal aorta have had an aneurysm that made it hugely distended?

But yeah...you nick that thing and the whole abdomen looks like a bucket of blood in seconds. If they hadn't sewed it shut, he would have died. It's horrible that it was misidentified.

It sounds like there were a lot of people involved and the ball was dropped rather spectacularly.

It would still be very interesting to get your doctor's side of the story.

If this happened in 2014 and your doctor is still a licensed doctor and surgeon....there might be more to the story (and her specific involvement) than meets the eye.

My advice? Find a board certified bariatric surgeon at a major trauma center hospital that is a center of excellence. Ask your doctor how many bariatric surgeries they do each week, and how many they've done in their career. It should be a lot....and your doctor should be willing to discuss his/her rates of complication.

Yeah, I totally get why this would be unnerving to you. Best wishes.

Edited May 3, 20188 yr by Creekimp13

My curiosity got the better of me on this and I found an article that follows the rough details you've given.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/northeast-tarrant/article4115524.html
Yeah, this is a mess.
I don't know how the hell they could misidentify the abdominal aorta...it's a garden hose.
Yikes....yeah.
There, of course, could be a lot of information missing. Could the patient have had very unusual anatomy? (some people do) Could his abdominal aorta have had an aneurysm that made it hugely distended?
But yeah...you nick that thing and the whole abdomen looks like a bucket of blood in seconds. If they hadn't sewed it shut, he would have died. It's horrible that it was misidentified.
It sounds like there were a lot of people involved and the ball was dropped rather spectacularly.
It would still be very interesting to get your doctor's side of the story.
If this happened in 2014 and your doctor is still a licensed doctor and surgeon....there might be more to the story (and her specific involvement) than meets the eye.
My advice? Find a board certified bariatric surgeon at a major trauma center hospital that is a center of excellence. Ask your doctor how many bariatric surgeries they do each week, and how many they've done in their career. It should be a lot....and your doctor should be willing to discuss his/her rates of complication.
Yeah, I totally get why this would be unnerving to you. Best wishes.

Yeaasss!! And that's just the story you found on the website. I have the document from the Texas board of surgeon's with my doctors signature to the exact details. How did you find this article???