The opening of the Teen Obesity Weight Loss Program at Denver’s Rose Medical Center has garnered criticism from other bariatric professionals.
Directed by Dr. Michael A. Snyder, the program includes several weeks of pre- and post-surgery counseling on nutrition, psychology, and behavioral change. “Being a morbidly obese teen is a total nightmare,” says Dr. Snyder. He makes sure that patients are well aware of their responsibilities following weight-loss surgery and “are ready for a life-long commitment.”
Other bariatric experts, however, aren’t so sure that bariatric surgery is the best choice for teens. “It’s kind of young to be going through something so drastic,” says Dr. Wendy Scinta, a pediatric bariatrician who runs a weight-loss clinic in New York. “We need to give them a shot at doing something less aggressive at first.”
Scinta states she would recommend bariatric surgery for a teen only if the patients weighed in excess of 600 pounds and was “truly on death’s door.” At her clinic, emphasis is placed on losing weight through exercise and healthy eating.
Other doctors say with teens, it can be difficult to discern the parents’ wishes from the patient’s when it comes to bariatric surgery. “For 40-year-olds, it is because they are choosing themselves to make themselves healthier,” says Dr. Scott Fisher, director of bariatrics at Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs. But overweight teens may feel more pressured by society or by their parents to undergo surgery.
To read the full article, please visit Hospital opens bariatric program for teens amid controversy.
http://mybiglife.com/the-politics-of-obesity/440-hospital-opens-weight-loss-surgery-program-for-teens-amid-controversy.html
Resources
To learn more about childhood obesity, check out these titles on Amazon.com:
Underage and Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic — What Every Parent Needs to Know, by Frances M. Berg
Obesity in Youth: Causes, Consequences, and Cures, edited by Leslie J. Heinberg and J. Kevin Thompson
