Intragastric balloon: ethics, medical need and cosmetics

The development of the intragastic balloon as a safe, noninvasive, alternative method to weight reduction raises all the ethical questions routinely faced by practitioners of other forms of cosmetic surgery. In the case of the morbidly, severely or merely obese, the surgeon is faced with a medical decision in a situation defined by medical parameters. The case of the overweight or normal may, however, create an ethical dilemma in which the doctor is forced to make decisions of a nonmedical nature, for which his training has not prepared him, and relating essentially to his personal attitudes and moral beliefs, culture and the recognition that 'if I don't, somebody else--possibly less competent--will'.