While bariatric surgery is helping many morbidly obese individuals overcome their weight loss struggles, it's not for everyone. To qualify as a candidate for either gastric bypass or adjustable gastric band surgery, you must meet certain criteria.

Sarasota Memorial offers a free evaluation to determine if bariatric surgery is right for you. Just call (941) 917-4571 or email us and we’ll schedule your appointment with one of our weight-loss surgery specialists. During your initial call, we’ll collect some basic information, including insurance information, so please have your insurance information at hand.

During your free evaluation, we’ll provide you with the following:

• Insurance Verification and Review – We’ll help you determine whether your insurance will provide coverage for bariatric surgery – and to what extent.
• Height/Weight/BMI Measurement – Here, we take core measurements that are part of the basic qualification process for bariatric surgery qualification.
• Medical History Review – We will document previous weight-loss attempts and assess current co-morbidity conditions for insurance verification – and to better determine the right course of treatment for you.

The results of your free evaluation will help you and your doctor decide if you should pursue bariatric surgery or non-surgical options.

Every day, our free evaluations give new hope to more and more people who are morbidly obese. A positive evaluation means that you are a pre-qualified candidate for Sarasota Memorial’s Bariatric Surgery program. It also means that you’ve completed Step 2 of our 7-Step program.

The next step for those who receive a positive evaluation is to come to a Meet-the-Surgeon information session. Here, you will meet one or more of Sarasota Memorial’s bariatric surgeons and their support team who will be there with you before your procedure – and long afterward. To learn more about Sarasota Memorial’s highly skilled bariatric team, visit Get to Know Us.

Are You Morbidly Obese?
Answering this question may give you the courage you need to take the first step. Below are tools you can use to determine if you are morbidly obese and potentially a candidate for weight loss surgery.

The medically accepted criteria for defining morbid obesity include:

• More than 100 lbs. over your ideal body weight, or
• Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40, or
• Have a BMI of over 35 and are experiencing severe negative health effects, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, related to being severely overweight
• Unable to achieve a healthy body weight for a sustained period of time, even through medically supervised dieting

Select your gender, and then move the red slider handles or select your height and weight to calculate your BMI. The results of the BMI calculations are displayed below. Note that these are approximate values, and are intended to be used only as a rough guide.