Surgical therapy is the only effective long-term treatment for morbid obesity in patients with a body mass index > 35 and the corresponding concomitant diseases. However, different medical requirements must be met for surgery in each patient. These include aspects such as weighing the surgical risk, the ability to cooperate, consent to the necessary lifelong aftercare, and the declared will to undergo the dietary requirements.

The costs for bariatric surgery are only covered by health insurance in individual cases. The hurdles for this are high: the patient must have a BMI of at least 40 or a BMI of 35 for more than three years with concurrent secondary diseases. In order for the costs to be covered, the patient must submit an application together with the physician, which must include a medical certificate.

Risks cannot be ruled out, as with all surgeries. Anesthesia is riskier in obese people than in people of normal weight. Since obese people often have concomitant diseases such as heart or circulatory problems, the risk of infections or bleeding increases.

This includes first and foremost very extensive laboratory examinations. If not already done, a gastroscopy is. ECG and X-ray examinations are performed on request of the anaesthesia, in individual cases also a lung function examination. Everything else depends on the personal risk profile.