Is lap banding the cure to obesity?

Obesity is killing Americans at an alarming rate and conventional dieting doesn't always work. In the last few years, "lap banding" has increased in popularity. Today is the first time lap banding has been done in Spokane.

Over 60 percent of people in the US are considered obese and the perception is unhealthy eating is the culprit. But for many - overeating is not the problem - it's genetics.

"Society would have us believing that all obese patients are lazy, dirty, eat a lot, don't exercise - that is absolutely not the case," says Dr. Lee Trotter, the first bariatric surgeon performing lap banding surgery in Spokane.

Dr. Lee Trotter is new to Spokane, but not new to the problem of obesity. As a bariatric surgeon - he's performed weight loss surgeries like gastric bypass and lap banding, which was approved by the FDA in 2001.