The centerpiece of THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION campaign is the four-part documentary series, each featuring case studies, interviews with our nation’s leading experts, and individuals and their families struggling with obesity.

Watch the official HBO trailer below…

As the worlds obesity epidemic is growing to catastrophic proportions, new technologies and procedures are resulting in less invasive and more effective techniques to combat this life threatening disease.

Barcelona, one of the most beautiful cities in the world was the meeting grounds for the 5th international federation for the surgery of obesity conference. The “who’s who” of weight-loss surgery from every continent was present. The highlight of the meeting was the innovations and new techniques section of the program with special interest in the developing Gastric Plication procedure as a bariatric surgery option.

The course took place the first morning of a three day meeting. The discussion forum was moderated by the Chairman of the Course, Dr Martin Fried, a well known and highly esteemed colleague with 25 years of bariatric surgery experience. It was co-chaired by his associate Karin Dolezalova, both surgeons from the Czech Republic.

Also in the experts forum was Dr Almino Ramos from Brazil, a surgeon who needs no introduction and heads one of the busiest bariatric surgery centers in the world. Ali Fardun from the UAE is enthusiastic and outspoken and has helped promote and endorse the procedure because of it’s mild nature and Dr Ariel Ortiz Lagardere from Mexico who is well known for his expertise in revision surgery.

The sessions were comfortably packed with attendees and the discussion forums would overspill into the coffee breaks with ease. Though some technical aspects of the procedure are still in debate, all surgeons agreed that the procedure was producing an average of 60% excess weight loss across the board.

Dr Ramos remarked that the Plication in his hands produces a weight-loss better than gastric banding and similar to gastric sleeve. Dr Fried gave a quick introduction to his technique and his two year results while a very detailed presentation from Dr Dolezalova discussed her data on patients with Type 2 Diabetes with a high success rate of resolution with gastric plication. Dr Ortiz explained why he has named his technique simply “Stomach Sparing Gastric Sleeve ^TM“.

The final discussion from the experts was coordinated by Dr Fried. Some controversial questions resulted in a heated but very productive debate. All agreed that a final consensus is still in the works and awaits the 2+ years data in order to standardize a procedure that is producing safe and very effective weight-loss at two year follow up.

OCC is a well established training and research facility for the past 10 years. Revolutionary breakthroughs in the treatment of obesity are constantly taking place at OCC such as the Gastric Plication Surgery and and the new swallowable balloon for weight loss!

OCC is a state of the art facility with tele-presence capabilities and is frequently broadcasting live surgery to selected centers around the world.

Now efforts to create the first live streaming educational channel is in the works at OCC. More to come!

First things first. If it looks to good to be true, it probably is. If you are thinking of getting elective surgery in Mexico,  going for the cheapest price is asking for trouble. A little more though should be invested in this process, after all this is your life and well being we are talking about. Just like in the United States, Mexico offers a wide range of quality and price points, from very reputable centers  all the way to shady take your money and run establishments and everything in between. So if price is the only selection criteria for you, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

When selecting a destination you need to look at the center or hospital, the practice and the surgeons. Centers can have the highest recognition by valid organizations established in the U.S. such as the prestigious Centers of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery. Only two centers in Mexico have that distinction, but at least you know you will be getting the same quality as you would in the top centers in the U.S. Check out the facility, go online, talk to others. The practice will have qualified surgeons, by this I mean not only will they have all their official credentials available to you, they usually have distinctions like being a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, member or fellow of the American Society of Bariatric Surgery, recognition as professors in their field, frequent lecturers at international settings  etc. This information is usually available in their own website as well as the organizations they are affiliated to. Lastly a quick google search will typically give you a general idea of their reputation. Every practice, center and doctor is going to have patient complaints once in a while, but this is usually the exception not the norm. If complaints are heard left and right, don’t touch with a ten foot pole.

Be careful when you book through surgery brokers. They offer the cheapest prices. Then they take their cut. Then of course the hospital has to get paid, that is when they start cutting corners to make a profit. By the time you reach the surgeon, he is on a weekly salary and doesn’t really care about your final outcome. He just want to hurry up and get back home.

It is easy to find a reputable center. Look at their websites. Practices that reinvest in their online material are sure to also have good followup and customer service. If they are only eager to take your money but offer poor follow-up you might as well burn your money.

Use your common sense. Going out of the country for surgery is not easy especially when you here misleading comments from your ignorant friends about the quality of healthcare in Mexico. Don’t select only by price, if you do you may end up paying with dear life.

This is not the first live surgery that has been transmitted in the surgical field, in fact this trend started a decade ago, when laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) started to gain popularity. It is simply the interposing of a camera and lens going into the body creating the surgical view on a screen for everybody in the operating room to see. This technology is what facilitated the use of keyhole incisions. Before this era, the view was limited to the eyes of the surgeon standing directly overhead of the surgical field. Now you connect that same camera to the internet and presto, live surgery through modern communications.

This was a historic event for OCC and the staff. Surgery was transmitted live for about an hour from the state of art operating room in OCC’s Centers of Excellence Hospital. Over 2,500 invitations to join this event online were sent. We had surgeons attend from every corner of the world. At one point, questions to Dr. Ortiz and his team were asked real-time from Russia, China, Japan, Canada, USA and other countries. The procedure being performed was a Gastric Plication and the video transmission was of great quality. It was such a success that we have received numerous additional requests to transmit live surgery by Dr. Ortiz to other prestigious venues.

Check out the amazing 3D Graphics and video material:  http://vimeo.com/31466940

In my fifteen years of practice I have personally seen over 10 thousand patients come to Mexico for Weight-loss surgery. In the early ninety’s it was the lack of options for certain weight-loss procedures in the U.S. that drove patients to seek healthcare elsewhere. Gastric Banding was widely available in Mexico and Europe and remained experimental in the U.S. until 2001. We are seeing this again with the new Gastric Plication Surgery still not readily available in the U.S. today.  The additional restrictions imposed by the FDA on Body Mass Index (Lower weight patient did not qualify for surgery) as well as extremely challenging insurance coverage policies denying crucial and life saving procedures have helped increased the flow of patients traveling for their care abroad. The recession and economic crisis affecting most American homes and the inaccessible cost of healthcare in the U.S. are the  compounding factors that have helped increase health tourism to an all time high. Global healthcare refers to the medical resources available to patients around the world. Physicians cannot see healthcare as an independent entity that ends where the borders begin. We have an obligation to treat patients and follow-them up independently of their nationality, race, beliefs as well as where their treatment originally was started or where their final destination will be. I can only tell you how it saddens me to see patients being refused medical treatment because they opted for a more affordable or more qualified option and traveled outside the U.S. for medical attention. Refusal to treat patients on that basis is not only unethical it is inhumane.

The outlook on healthcare in the U.S. is not a good one. A broken system has been deemed unfixable. A system where the foundation is the insurance carrier who is out to make a profit, not spend it on your health. The more you think about it, the more traveling for healthcare seems a logical and sensible answer to a complex problem. It’s a void that nobody else is willing or able to fill.