Reports of gastric bypass surgery deaths create fear in many potential patients. While gastric bypass surgery does entail some risk, including death, for the morbidly obese it is often their best shot at achieving a healthy weight and actually increasing their life-expectancy. The New England Journal of Medicine in August of 2007 published a study that determined having gastric bypass surgery actually reduces death. The study by the University Of Utah School Of Medicine tracked the mortality rate for over 15,000 severely obese people, of which half received weight loss surgery, specifically the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. The study followed both those who had surgery and those who did not for seven years. The surgery patients were 40% less likely to have died than those who did not have surgery. Additionally, the findings with regard to diabetes were astounding in that the surgery patients were now 92% less likely to die from diabetes than those who did not have gastric bypass surgery. Studies like this are very impressive and show that the right candidates are at a greater risk of death without the surgery than with it. All surgeries have inherent risks, and death is of course a major concern. To minimize the gastric bypass surgery deaths, only those who are good candidates should proceed with surgical intervention. Good candidates are not only based on weight, but also must be good candidates from a mental health perspective. Obsessive behaviors can lead to obesity and after surgery these obsessive behaviors can manifest in drug or alcohol use, reducing the life-expectancy of the patient. Other studies, such as the 2004 study by the University of Washington found that one in 50 gastric bypass surgery patients died within 30 days of the operation, and that using an inexperienced surgeon increased your risk of death. However, the long-term results of this study also showed an increase in life-expectancy for patients who opted for surgical intervention for obesity compared to those without surgery.
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