Simon Laplante, M.D., Metabolic Surgeon, Mayo Clinic:

Obesity is a very chronic condition. It's a very complex condition that affects multiple systems in your body and therefore it's very difficult to treat.

So often patients will come to us to seek a second opinion. Whether they've had the previous bariatric operation or if they've tried different medications or have had other interventions such as endoscopic interventions and they've had complications or if the course didn't go as planned, they'll come see us and then we'll discuss the next steps.

Pressing the reset button and taking a step back allows us to go back in the chart, review every step of that patient's journey leading them to Mayo Clinic. That allows us to understand the patient's current symptoms and situation.

I also have the time to order the appropriate diagnostic tests to make sure that nothing is missed and that we are on the right path.

Once I have all this information available, I can then confidently offer a surgical recommendation that meets the specific needs of that patient.