Has anyone else noticed all the Bariatric-surgery ads on TV? It's apparently big business, with central Indiana hospitals in the forefront:
The number of obese in the United States continues to rise and so does the popularity of surgical weight loss options. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that in 1998 surgeons performed 13,365 Bariatric procedures. By 2010 it's predicted that surgeons will perform 218,000 Bariatric surgeries.
"The surgeries are profitable. There is no question about that but as a non-profit hospital they take that revenue and put it back into other programs," said Kim Peters, St. Francis hospital program manager.
I understand that gastric-bypass surgery might be the best or even only option for some morbidly obese people. But, still, there's something creepy about the growing popularity of a procedure that basically reroutes the body's internal processes as a sustitute for diet and exercise. For some reason, I'm reminded of all those "get your house in order" shows my sister likes to watch on the Home & Garden Network. These organizers come into a messily out-of-control house and show people what they can throw away and how they better store what's left, resulting in a showplace home with lots of walking-around space. Then the organizers go away, congratulating themselves on a job well done. Every time, I think, "But you've left the same messy people there, who will make the house a wreck again in two weeks."
