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A Message from Dr. Raul J. Rosenthal
Raul J. Rosenthal, MD, FACS, FASMBS, Clinical Editor,
Bariatric Times; Chief of Staff, Professor of Surgery and Chairman, Department of General Surgery; Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery and The Bariatric and Metabolic Institute; General Surgery Residency Program Director; and Director, Fellowship in MIS and Bariatric Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Florida
Dear Friends and Readers:
Welcome to another exciting issue of Bariatric Times.
This month, we feature an exclusive report on a recent court case that is making news worldwide. The case is of a patient who had a body mass index (BMI) above 40kg/m2 without comorbidity when referred for a weight loss surgery consultation. After completing a preoperative weight loss program, the patient’s BMI fell to below 40kg/m2. The BMI was also below 40kg/m2 on the day a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) procedure was performed. After the operation, the patient experienced multiple complications. In the end, the United States Federal Court ruled in favor of the patient and the hospital was ordered to pay a 4.25-million-dollar reward.
I invite you to read the article for full details. Please take our reader survey aimed at gauging the medical community’s opinion on patient cases such as this one. Get involved in this important conversation about eligibility standard of care, BMIs, preoperative diets, and informed consent. We anticipate to receive a lot of responses. Results will be published in an upcoming issue of Bariatric Times.
We are pleased to present the second installment of “The History of Bariatric Surgery.” This month we feature Dr. George Blackburn. I enjoyed reading Dr. Blackburn’s contribution, especially the work he has accomplished with the Look AHEAD project, the largest and longest randomized evaluation to date of an intensive lifestyle intervention for weight reduction.
We talk with Dr. Ricardo Cohen who is on the organizing committee for both the 3rd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes and the 2nd Diabetes Surgery Summit, September 28 to 30, 2015, London, United Kingdom. These meetings should be part of your 2015 travel agenda as they are endorsed by many prestigious societies and will include participation of world leaders in the management of obesity related diabetes.
Drs. Caitlin Halbert and Matthew Hubbard present their final entry in a four-part series in which they shared with us their experiences in completing a surgical fellowship. Here, they reflect on what they have learned and provide the advice they would give to future fellows. I agree with their sentiments wholeheartedly. I was one of the first fellows in the United States that trained in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) in 1993. My experience with Dr. Ed Phillips at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, California, was a life changing one. As mentioned in previous installments, fellowship training in America is in crisis. Industry funding is fading and we should work together to develop new strategies on how to fund this very important stage in surgical training.
As the President of the ASMBS Foundation, I would like to thank Connie Stillwell and her team for their terrific work. We just sent out an e-mail to all members to nominate candidates for our annual awards ceremony. We also have several new initiatives that support research, education, and advocacy for our members. If you have not done so, please donate your time and dollars to support our Foundation.
Lastly, I would like to invite all of you to come to Obesity Week-End 2015, June 25 to 27, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. With the collaboration of program directors Drs. Aurora Pryor and Michel Gagner and Dr. John Morton, ASMBS President, this is sure to be an outstanding event. I hope to see you in Vegas.
Sincerely,
Raul J. Rosenthal, MD, FACS, FASMBS
Category: Editorial Message, Past Articles
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