weight-loss surgery

A local surgeon specializing in a type of weight-loss surgery is lobbying to get insurers to pay for the $25K operation. And why not? Isn't this a clear-cut case of medicine being employed for honorable means? The surgeon says,

People literally thank you for giving them their lives back, and you can see how their lives are changed

These kind of surgeries are controversial in the medical community and they are extreme. They involve surgically removing most of the stomach or bypassing the stomach so that the patient feels full after eating a mere fraction of what they normally eat. In fact, they will feel full after eating a mere fraction of a normal diet as well. It is a form of self-starvation. Perhaps such extreme health problems elicit extreme measures.

There should be some concern, however, that weight-loss surgeries may be causing additional problems while fixing others. Self-starvation, even with nutritional supplements, must certainly carry its own risks, which are likely to be long-term and show up possibly years after the operation. We may not know what those are now, especially since these kinds of procedures are relatively new.

I want to think that this is outweighed by the benefits gained from losing weight, which we know to be the source or many other systemic health problems such as hypertension and diabetes. Yet it is a reminder that even therapeutic biotechnology can be ethically problematic.