Obesity surgery: French medico-legal aspects.

The demand for bariatric surgery is expected to increase. It is a procedure that carries a high surgical risk, and a risk of postoperative complications due to the pathologies associated with obesity. Obesity surgery is not classified as plastic surgery, but may subsequently lead to plastic surgery-type operations. Malpractices in the field of obesity surgery are most frequently at the pre-operative stage. In the absence of any fault, a patient may obtain indemnification by "national solidarity". Physicians and surgeons have an obligation to be able to prove that they informed their patients properly.