By ALEX SILVERMAN
KIRO Radio

The company that makes a gastric bypass surgery kit for sale on Amazon.com says it is not a consumer product, and should not have ended up on the site.

For $264, the kit, manufactured by Chicago-based Medline, Inc., provides everything a surgeon might need to perform a gastric bypass, a procedure which normally costs the patient tens of thousands of dollars.

"It was a mistake that it was on Amazon," said Medline spokesman John Marks. "This is purely for hospital use by doctors and surgeons, and it is not for sale to consumers."

It is not known whether any customers actually bought the product; most of its 38 reviews on the site poke fun at the notion of a do-it-yourself procedure. "I waited all of 2010 for this item to finally go on sale," one reviewer wrote. "Excellent product, however the instructions included were from an Ikea chest of drawers. No matter!"

If indeed customers actually purchased the kit, "they should return it," Marks said.

Marks said Medline asked that the product be removed after KIRO-FM contacted him Monday. "This is not for consumers to purchase and we don't want confusion in the marketplace," he said. As of 3:30 p.m. Monday, the listing was no longer available.

Amazon.com did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alex Silverman, 97.3 KIRO FM Reporter

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