BUSINESS
January 17, 2012 | By Stuart Pfeifer
Workers at weight-loss surgery centers affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign persuaded patients to have medically unnecessary surgeries and billed insurance companies for procedures that were never performed, a new lawsuit alleges . Two women who formerly worked at surgery centers affiliated with the Lap-Band ad campaign claimed that surgery center executives covered up mistakes that contributed to the Sept. 8 death of Paula Rojeski, a Lap-Band patient from Orange County.
BUSINESS
February 11, 2011 | By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
A fourth Southern California patient has died following Lap-Band weight-loss surgery at a clinic connected to the pervasive 1-800-GET-THIN advertising campaign, according to a lawsuit filed by the patient's husband. Laura Faitro of Simi Valley died July 26, 2010, five days after surgery at Valley Surgical Center in West Hills. Three other patients have died shortly after surgery at an associated center in Beverly Hills, relatives have alleged in lawsuits and interviews. FOR THE RECORD: Los Angeles Times Friday, March 25, 2011 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 News Desk 6 inches; 218 words Type of Material: Correction Lap-Band lawsuits: A Business article that appeared online Feb. 10 and in print Feb. 11 about lawsuits filed against marketing company 1-800-GET-THIN reported that the Medical Board of California, in revoking Julian Omidi's license to practice medicine, accused him of failing to disclose that he had attended UC Irvine, which expelled him in 1990, and that he pleaded guilty to commercial burglary in Orange County in 1991.
BUSINESS
October 30, 2012 | By Stuart Pfeifer
Allergan Inc. is considering selling its Lap-Band weight-loss unit amid rapidly declining sales and a swarm of negative publicity about patient deaths and a criminal investigation of one of its former customers. Word of the potential sale came the same day the company disclosed that sales of the Lap-Band fell for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company reported $37.4 million in Lap-Band sales for the third quarter of 2012, a 25% decline from one year ago and 53% less than it sold in the third quarter of 2008.
BUSINESS
September 8, 2012 | By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times
A Bakersfield woman has sued Lap-Band marketing firm 1-800-GET-THIN and several healthcare providers after complications from a 2011 weight-loss surgery forced doctors to remove her stomach. Natalie Swaim alleges that surgeons negligently implanted her Lap-Band weight-loss device, causing her stomach to lose blood supply and the tissue to die. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also seeks damages from a Bakersfield hospital that treated Swaim in 2012 after complications surfaced.
BUSINESS
January 17, 2012 | By Stuart Pfeifer, Los Angeles Times
Workers at weight-loss surgery centers affiliated with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign persuaded patients to have medically unnecessary surgeries and billed insurance companies for procedures that were never performed, a new lawsuit alleges. Two women who formerly worked at surgery centers associated with the Lap-Band ad campaign also alleged that executives covered up mistakes that contributed to the Sept. 8 death of Paula Rojeski, a Lap-Band patient from Orange County. The new lawsuit seeks damages from eight people, including brothers Michael and Julian Omidi, who the lawsuit says run the weight-loss business from offices in Beverly Hills.
BUSINESS
January 22, 2012 | Michael Hiltzik
Several current or former workers for the people behind those 1-800-GET-THIN ads have made allegations about this weight-loss enterprise that government regulators should have gotten to the bottom of long ago. Taken together, the allegations are that its patients are subjected to life-threatening conditions. The regulators can't ignore this situation anymore. The workers include Dyanne Deuel, a former manager at surgery centers affiliated with the GET-THIN marketing campaign, and Karla Osorio, a surgical technician.