Medical tourism in bariatric surgery

The number of Canadians who self-refer for bariatric surgery outside of Canada or to private clinics within Canada remains undefined. The outcomes from this questionable practice have not been evaluated systematically to date.

We completed a chart review of known cases referred to our center for complications related to medical tourism and bariatric surgery.

We present a series of patients who have experienced complications because of medical tourism for bariatric surgery and required urgent surgical management at a tertiary care center within Canada. Complications have resulted from 3 commonly used procedures: adjustable gastric banding, gastric sleeve resection, and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Because of this review, we propose that a medical tourism approach to the surgical management of obesity-a chronic disease-is inappropriate and raises clear ethical and moral issues.