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Posted: 01/19/2011
The flip of a laptop. The click of a mouse. That's all it took to find a syringe, a scalpel and more.
"You've got a surgical blade to open the skin?"
It's advertised as a gastric bypass kit for sale on locally-based Amazon.com, tagged by users as a "Do-it-Yourself" surgery kit.
Family practitioner, Doctor Linda Petter, is outraged.
"Shock. Absolute shock. There's certain information. There's certain equipment... supplies that definitely should not be sold on the internet."
That's an internet site known more for books, movies, and music, but the gastric bypass kit, listed under surgical supplies, even has reviewers who say, quote, "This kit was easy to figure out."
Petter worries it could get into the wrong hands.
"What if someone takes it the wrong way. You're potentially putting your health, your life in jeopardy and that is very very serious."
Not knowing if the listing was meant to be serious or a joke, KOMO, a Seattle television station, tracked down the listed seller, Medplus, inc., based out of New Jersey.
A representative there insisted the kit is legitimate but meant to be used in a medical facility.
"This kit is not used for home. this is for a medic use, for professional use."
This professional says she's never seen anything like it, and, point blank, the equipment shouldn't be available to the general public, period.
The kit was being sold for $264, but amazon-dot-com has now pulled the listing off its website.
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