As the most prominent faces of Canadas thriving weight-loss-surgery industry, Slimband Inc.s wholesomely attractive models are hard to miss. The upbeat ads featuring fit and smiling men and women offer an unmistakable pitch: Lives are being transformed through worry-free treatment.
Malpractice lawsuits, accounts of former employees and a survey by the National Post, however, paint a more complicated picture of the self-described national leader in the weight-loss treatment business, raising questions about screening, preparation and post-operative care of patients who undergo surgery, performed under general anesthetic, at the clinic.
Slimband, which has branches across Canada, has attracted thousands of customers, who would face years-long wait lists in the backlogged public sector. But there are also allegations that just about anyone willing to pay the $16,000 fee can have the food-restricting gastric band installed even if theyre not overweight and that Slimband salespeople often understate the risks of a significant medical operation while exaggerating its benefits.
The company strongly refutes that it skimps on services or fails to properly screen patients, pointing to a customer-feedback survey it conducted last year in which eight of 10 respondents said they would recommend Slimbands services to others.
I speak to patients on a regular basis who tell me that Slimband has changed their lives in ways they never dreamed possible, said Michael Scot-Smith, the companys owner. These are people who have struggled most of their lives to lose weight diets, pills, exercise regimes without success. They had lost hope. Slimband helped them regain it.
Dr. Mehran Anvari, president of the Canadian Association of Bariatric Physicians and Surgeons, says these kinds of banding operations are considered relatively safe. Canadian law also requires that physicians fully inform patients of a treatments risks and benefits before obtaining their consent. But malpractice suits filed by two patients in recent months allege that things can go seriously wrong. The plaintiffs both maintain that Slimbands implanted gastric-banding devices perforated their stomachs and caused dangerous infections. They allege the clinic had glossed over the potential for severe complications.
None of the charges has been proven in court, and the company and surgeon have so far filed a statement of defence in one case insisting the patient was fully informed of risks and the operation performed safely.
Dr. Anvari said he had no personal knowledge of Slimbands system. If the allegations about lightly vetted and poorly prepared patients are true, he said, it would be totally below the standard for such surgery.
Any procedure which is not warranted should be avoided, said the physician, noting that weight-loss surgery has physical and psychological side effects that set it apart. Its not like appendicitis surgery, because it really affects peoples [lives] very significantly.
But clients such as Jody Duclos and others whose testimonials sprinkle Slimbands ads and website rave about the results. The 38-year-old sales manager from Moose Jaw, Sask., weighed 400 pounds, saw Slimbands ads and decided enoughs enough. After his operation last October, he calls it amazing that hes already down 120 pounds, just 60 pounds away from his goal. Im a new person, he said.
Here is the original post:
Thick to thin: Gastric-band weight-loss clinic denies allegations of putting patients at risk
