Bariatric Surgery for the adolescents and children is becoming widespread over the years. The results however are still scare and of poor quality, with many of the patients undergoing this surgery being too young to agree or disagree (Hofmann, 2010). This has created a series of moral challenges regarding this practice on the heath care platform. Efforts to introduce bariatric surgery as health care services in various hospitals need to withhold in order for the issues to be reviewed first.
Obesity has become a problem that needs to be addressed worldwide. It has been found that over 30% of the adolescents in the United States are obese and of these, 70% end up being obese even at adulthood (Geelen, Bolt & Summeren, 2010). Bariatric surgery was introduced to put to an end this trend and help the teenagers who are suffering from obesity.
The introduction of various procedures to prevent obesity seems to be having a good intention but have proven to be of low quality. This means that these procedures have resulted in the harming of the patients infecting them with other diseases and complications. It has been reported that children as young as 5 years old are undergoing these procedure. This means that they are being taken to these hospitals against their will. This is morally and legally wrong as the child has not been diagnosed for any condition. This goes against the recognized children rights.
It has been also reported that bariatric surgery has resulted in the change of the individuals, not only physically but also mentally. This means that the surgery changes the lives of the patients in a substantial way hence its negative effects. Medically speaking, this adds no value to the patient as it just transfers the issue from one to the other. This can be seen not to help the patient in the long run but only accomplish one and form another.
Bariatric surgery is costly to the economy and ends up draining a significant amount of funds from other parts of health care (Geele, Bolt & Summeren, 2010). This has proved to be a great disadvantage to the practice as it is too expensive for the economy to handle. This means that only those who are economically stable can pay to perform such a surgery leaving out the poor of the society to fend for themselves.
The surgery can be seen to have a positive effect in the society as it has helped many obese children be in a position to mingle with the others. As it is known, obesity leads to low self-esteem hence obese people rarely relate with their peers. This surgery helps them fit into the community hence a positive impact. In cases where the surgery has side effects, its impact to the society is negative as it has solved the issue at hand but resulted in another problem.
On the individuals’ impact, this mostly depends on the ability of the individual to recover from the surgery. If the individual recovers well, the surgery would have impacted positively on the individuals life as he or she will be in a position to relate with his or her peers well. In cases where the individuals suffer from side effects, the impact will depend on the nature of the side-effect and for how long it will last.
It can be seen that Bariatric surgery has various impacts on the lives of the individual and the society. These all depends on the outcome of the surgery, considering the surgery is termed as low quality, there are high chances that the surgery may be a failure or result in various dire consequences.
References
Fairchild, R. M. (2010). Practical ethical theory for nurses responding to complexity in care.Nursing Ethics. doi:10.1177/0969733010361442
Geelen, S. M., Bolt, L. L., & Summeren, M. J. (2010). Moral Aspects of Bariatric Surgery for Obese Children and Adolescents: The Urgent Need for Empirical–Ethical Research.American Journal of Bioethics. doi:10.1080/15265161.2010.528514
Hofmann, B. (2010). Stuck in the Middle: The Many Moral Challenges With Bariatric Surgery.American Journal of Bioethics. doi:10.1080/15265161.2010.528509
