Sunday 27 January 2008

OBESITY VS. GASTRIC SURGERY RISKS

The marketing ploy used in the ADJUSTABLE GASTRIC BANDING SURGERY study that we commented on January 24th, motivated us to do more research into bariatric surgeries, the outcomes and the risks. We didn’t have to look any further than Sandy Szwarc’s extensively documented blog -- Junkfood Science -- to find a series of articles on the issue.

The first of the articles that caught our attention can be read here. Healthcare or healthscare, as some rightly call it, is very big business with many players involved. The marketing strategies include, but are not limited to, appealing to the emotions of uninformed people who are unsuspicious of doctors, government agencies, scientists and NGO’s and who naively believe that all these players work towards one common goal – the well-being of citizens. While people have been conditioned to be distrustful of corporate interests and with good reason, they trust without questioning those who allegedly work in the best interests of the citizens. It is imperative citizens educate themselves in order to be in a position to take informed decisions for their own health and well-being.

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