Weight loss surgery should change lives, not endanger them.

In this month’s Trial News, SGB’s Sims Weymuller explains how Wernicke’s encephalopathy, a rare but preventable brain injury complication after bariatric surgeries, can open the door to medical malpractice claims.

Patients who need total parenteral nutrition after surgery may not absorb the necessary thiamine that all human brains need for basic function. Prolonged thiamine deficiency can cause a catastrophic brain injury known as Wernicke’s encephalopathy.

In his article, “Wernicke’s Encephalopathy: Metabolic Brain Injury after Bariatric Surgery,” Sims brings attention to the possibility that failure to supply thiamine after bariatric weight loss surgery, or a missed WE diagnosis, may form the basis of a viable malpractice case for patients.

Read the full article here.