My mother in law has a hernia that needs surgery. She went and spoke with a surgeon and he told her that he would also like her to have the lap band procedure. He wants her to get banded before he does the hernia repair which makes no sense to me. I think he should correct the problem at hand before he tries to go extra curricular. Because he wants to do the band first I feel like he really just wants her money. She had a very major bacterial infection in her abdomen last year. Serious enough that the doctors were not sure she would make and they had to bring in specialists to treat her. She had to wear a pump post op to pump out extra infection that they were not able to get rid of during surgery. Because of this I think this is something she really needs to carefully consider before she does it. Can anyone help me out with some pros and cons of having this procedure and let me know of problems you may be having. My sister told me that there have been some disturbing reports about the lap band and that the FDA is investigating the lap band....does anyone know anything about this??:confused::cursing:

I certainly wasn't insinuating that a second opinion wasn't valid. I was mearly stating my opinion which is based on working with many surgeons and knowing a bit about their pshyche. I would say that ego fuels 95% of them. Ego is a good thing in a surgeon because it makes them determined to do the job and do it right--unfortunetely it makes them incredibly hard work with. Frankly, I think surgeons in the US are making nearly enough money. For all the schooling they go through, all the liability and the poor reiumbursement they deserve every dime they make.

What I am certainly advocating is being an informed health consumer. There are so many people who do not understand the gravity of their condition or the means that it will take to make headway against it. Fact of the matter is, an overweight diabetic with prior wound issues that now has a hernia is a recipe or disaster. Therefore taking off some of the weight and possibly improving or eliminating comorbid conditions before a hernia operation is certainly something to look into.

My mother in law does have a hiatal hernia and if you looked at my other responses she does have diabetes. I do not feel that it is appropriate to ask someone what their BMI is and how much they weigh. If I had to guess I would say she is probably around 270 and she is 5'4". She does not have any high blood pressure or any other medical problems other than being overweight and the diabetes. I have no clue what the infections you are speaking of are. I do know that the infection was not caused by being in the hospital which someone else had previously asked.

Edited September 17, 200817 yr by a little worried
incorrect wording

I can not think of any reason for opening this woman up to do a Lap Band surgery and not fixing the hiatal hernia while he is there. Doing it over two surgeries makes no sense, why add to the pain, scars and costs? And I was told and I have read that a hernia needs to be repaired in order to have the Lap Band. We don't know enough about the infection she has but if the infection will not impede her ability to have Lap Band surgery then why not get everything done in one surgery rather than risking two?