QUESTION
What information did the NYC City Council's Committee on Criminal Justice and Hospital request from Belfield administrators about pediatric bariatric surgery practices?
1:35:52
·
5 min
Mitch Katz defends Bellevue Hospital Center's pediatric bariatric surgery program, emphasizing its importance in treating severe obesity and its complications.
- The committee requested details on the number of surgeries, policies on recruitment and performance, follow-up care, financial incentives, and the hospital's accreditation process.
- Mitch Katz explains the life-saving nature of bariatric surgery for severe obesity, countering criticisms of the program.
- Katz highlights the provision of equal care regardless of criminal justice system involvement and defends the program's approach to pre-surgery visits.
- The success rates of Bellevue's bariatric surgery program stand comparable to others, aiming to address serious health issues in low-income individuals.
- Katz and Council Member Mercedes Narcisse highlight the preventive care aspect of bariatric surgery, stressing its cost-effectiveness and necessity over reactionary treatments.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:35:52
On February 7 2024, the committee on criminal justice and hospital sent a letter.
1:35:57
We sent a letter to Belfield administrators in regard to their pediatric surgery practices.
1:36:03
In the letter, the committees requested information on the number of search the policies governing the recruitment and performance of the bariatric surgeries.
1:36:12
The follow-up care for patients who have undergun bariatric surgeries, the equipment of bariatric surgery patients for Raghus Allen, the financial incentives surrounding the surgeries, and the accreditation process for Bellevue Hospital Center for Obesity And With Management.
1:36:31
Do you have any updates on whether administrators have been able to collect the information requested by the committee chair?
1:36:38
Cheers, I should say.
1:36:39
Be in her.
Mitch Katz
1:36:40
Yes, madam chair.
1:36:42
So we now have the the letter was was approved and released yesterday or today, this morning.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:36:49
Yes.
Mitch Katz
1:36:49
So I I have it here.
1:36:50
I hope you have it.
1:36:52
If not, I I have copy.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:36:53
I have a copy, sweetie.
1:36:55
For my letter.
1:36:57
Good.
1:36:57
Good.
Mitch Katz
1:36:58
So I I just would like to say, you know, as a as a clip and I I care for many people with diabetes, hypertension, and many of them suffer from obesity.
1:37:11
Levels that that they cannot control.
1:37:14
And you talk to them, it's gonna be heartbreaking.
1:37:16
People say, I eat almost nothing, and I say it's not your fault.
1:37:20
Your body just happens to be really good at pulling every calorie out of what you eat.
1:37:27
And people reach a point where they cannot lose weight because their weight prevents them from moving very much, because their knees begin to hurt, their feet begin to hurt, so they become less and less active and then use fewer and fewer calories.
1:37:44
And bariatric surgery has been found to be life threatening, and I and I think many people found the New York Times articles insulting that they basically seemed to say say, look, you're poor.
1:37:58
What are you doing with getting this, you know, surgery for body stuff?
1:38:03
You know, that's, you know, that's superfluous, you know, that, you know, Bellevue should be, you know, handling trauma care without realizing that that this is life threatening.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:38:14
Yeah.
1:38:15
Life threatening.
Mitch Katz
1:38:15
Life threatening when people, you know, have BMI's body mass index of 45
Greg Levine
1:38:23
Mhmm.
Mitch Katz
1:38:23
And have sugars that are out of control and hypertension that that isn't controlled by multiple medications.
1:38:30
And many of the charges like the idea that a surgeon would be paid for productivity that's American medicine.
1:38:40
All of American medicine is based on productivity.
1:38:43
There's nothing nefarious about productivity.
1:38:48
There were criticisms of the idea that patients who were in the criminal justice system would get bariatric surgery.
1:38:58
But again, our whole goal is to provide a single standard of care to people.
1:39:03
We don't we don't go around saying, I'm sorry you're in the criminal justice system, and we're not therefore gonna provide lifesaving treatment.
1:39:11
There was criticism that we didn't require the same number of visits as the private systems.
1:39:18
Well, you know what?
1:39:19
The private systems get paid for each of those visits.
1:39:21
Those visits are money making.
1:39:23
On the other hand, my patients often don't have sick leave.
1:39:27
If I tell them that they have to come a 9 appointments before their surgery to announce stutter.
1:39:33
They won't be able to comply.
1:39:35
So, yes, we've created a progress am that was designed to meet the needs.
1:39:41
Everyone did not have a perfect outcome because that's bariatric surgery.
1:39:45
It it is life saving.
1:39:47
Sometimes it doesn't work.
1:39:49
Sometimes people still are able to consume enough calories.
1:39:54
But our numbers are as good as anyone.
1:39:56
And I really think that it was a sort of misunderstanding of what it's like to be poor, and what it's like to, you know, have people not really recognize how serious a problem obesity is for people.
1:40:13
So we we are undefent we we don't feel defensive at all about this issue in the sense of this is not to me something that anybody needs to apologize about.
1:40:26
We we wanna be transparent.
1:40:29
We want everybody to see the data, but we don't see anything that requires us to say, you know, we are sorry or we did the wrong thing.
1:40:39
We we stand by the outcomes of the program and we stand by right of low income people who are seriously obese, and we're not we're not talking about people who wanna look better in their summer swimsuit.
1:40:51
We're talking about people who have uncontrolled diabetes or hypertension or heart disease because of their obesity.
1:40:59
So we're happy that the letter got released, then happy to provide anyone with information and transparency about the program.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:41:10
AND IT'S PREVENTIVE CARE.
Mitch Katz
1:41:11
IT'S PREVENTIVE CARE.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:41:13
Reporter: AS THE NURS OUT FOCUS ON PREVENTIVE CARE, THIS IS PREVENTIVE CARE.
1:41:16
But when you let someone to obese and then life threatening hypertension, heart disease, cardiac arrest, when they come to the hospital, you put them in later.
1:41:25
That's a lot of more money
Greg Levine
1:41:27
Yeah.
Mercedes Narcisse
1:41:27
Than doing a surgery and trying to get the person to live, you know, healthier life.
1:41:32
And it should not be about money.
1:41:35
Is the right for everyone to have health care.