We are no longer accepting cases regarding these products.  Due to a terrible Supreme Court ruling, consumers injured by this product are no longer permitted to sue the manufacturers of this device.  We wish we could help, but the Supreme Court has taken the rights of citizens away to protect the profits of medical device manufacturers.  For more information, please read the following New York Times article entitled “Medical Device Ruling Redraws Lines on Lawsuits.“

In 2006, M. Suter et al. published a study titled “A 10-year experience with laparoscopic gastric banding for morbid obesity: high long-term complication and failure rates.” in Obesity Surgery in which it is stated “Since its introduction about 10 years ago, and because of its encouraging early results regarding weight loss and morbidity, laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB) has been considered by many as the treatment of choice for morbid obesity.”  Though gastric banding has been seen to be effective, it does carry with it a number of complications that have serious health consequences.

The team writes “Between June 1997 and June 2003, LGB was performed in 317 patients, 43 men and 274 women,” of whom about 98% were available for follow-up at 3 years, “88.2% after 5 years, and 81.5% after 7 years. Overall, 105 (33.1%) of the patients developed late complications, including band erosion in 9.5%, pouch dilatation/slippage in 6.3%, and catheter- or port-related problems in 7.6%. Major reoperation was required in 21.7% of the patients.”

As such, the team concluded that “With a nearly 40% 5-year failure rate, and a 43% 7-year success rate ([excess weight loss] >50%), LGB should no longer be considered as the procedure of choice for obesity” and warn that the procedure shouldn’t be used until doctors have determined which patients might be at low risk for complications.

Due to the fact that Allergan, the manufacturer of LAP-BAND, a popular gastric banding system, reports significantly lower rates of complications than those determined by Suter et al. in 2006, a number of LAP-BAND lawsuits were filed.

Our Allergan LAP-BAND Lawsuit Information page is a great place to start if you have any questions about the Allergan LAP-BAND.