Safety measures

In August 2004, a committee appointed by state public health officials recommended that Massachusetts hospitals and doctors adopt standards to reduce deaths and complications from obesity surgery. Among the group's recommendations were:

Surgeons should perform at least 50 obesity surgeries a year in properly equipped, high-volume hospitals or weight loss centers, which handle at least 100 cases per year.

For traditional weight-loss surgery, during which doctors make a long incision, an experienced surgeon should monitor a new surgeon for 10 cases, and the new surgeon's next 15 cases should be reviewed to make sure standards are met, before full privileges are granted to the surgeon. For laparoscopic surgery, an experienced surgeon should monitor 25 cases by a new surgeon before that surgeon is granted privileges.

Hospitals should provide round-the-clock on-call emergency coverage by well-trained staff for weight loss surgery patients.

Hospital surgery programs should offer preoperative and postoperative care and nutritional and psychological counseling for weight loss surgery patients.