Surgical Skill and Complication Rates after Bariatric Surgery

To the Editor: Birkmeyer et al. (Oct. 10 issue)(1) report that peer ratings of the technical skill of bariatric surgeons correlated with patient outcomes as measured according to complication rates the higher the peer rating of technical skill, the lower the rate of complications. This finding may be true for laparoscopic bypass surgery performed by bariatric surgeons, but it may not hold true for other types of surgery. The study involved an operative procedure in which the technique is fairly standard. To suggest that the same findings may be observed in other procedures in which surgical approaches, techniques, and ...