not just in real life but on the web also. I’ll be exposing that. Here is my assessment on my surgeon and why you should want to pick or try to get the best you can.
Great staff. Excellent surgeon/cutter (concern over not putting in my records anesthesia problems).
Concerns with the other care:
1) Communication or personal style/attitude. I would not get some questions answered, some questions were met with resistance or anger. Most of those had to do with medical research, other options, etc. When the anger was in the tone/voice, comments like ‘I did what I thought was right’ (I’m paying for this, don’t I get a say?), ‘if you don’t like it, go elsewhere’, ‘I’ve been a doctor for 20 years’, or get up and walk out on me, doesn’t do positives for the relationship. Telling me, when I didn’t want to take a test (so much for my rights, put in writing by the hospital), ‘if you don’t do as I say, I’ll put it in your records, and other doctors will see it and wonder why’, got burned into my brain. I couldn’t afford a treatment and paying it for it has set me back ever since then. Other doctors & I have worked this out, except for his buddy. Conflicting instructions and then get mad at me for it. When coming out of the hospital, told to make an appt. for a particular date. I did. I got called back and noted in my records, he wanted another date, giving the impression it was my fault. I said it was X you said. “Well I don’t know what I was thinking”. Me either but DUDE don’t flag me in my records when you make a mistake. Got angry at me for trying to get his nurse on the phone once. I was making a cake to thank him and wanted to make sure he’d be in the office on the day I brought it in. When I took the cake to him, I said you got mad on this and I was trying to do it for you. He laughed. No apology for chewing me out on the phone, and he put it in my records I was being unreasonable. Just laughed at me.
Accusing me of mental issues (like ED’s) and its all in my head when I have gastroparesis, IBS, multiple food intolerances, and GERD/reflux, all but the gastroparesis happening after surgery, that’s a bit much. All the problems I had with food were due to that, but I guess no one was looking up the criteria for these diagnoses. Years ago when I was first diagnosed with gastroparesis, it was such a disaster the GI told me if I didn’t stablize that week, I was going to be hospitalized for nutritional issues. Telling someone that if they were “disciplined”, they could eat & drink, well I can’t find anywhere in medical research agreement with that assessment. I did a marathon within time limit at 100 pds. overweight but I have a discpline problem?
Sending lawyers and/or risk managers after me for speaking my experiences and showing people my records, the questions I have, not cool. Dude … no one is suing you or sending lawyers to you. Every other problem I’ve had with places, we dealt with things without lawyers, money and talked like adults over the issues. I’ve protested stuff before and we did it legally & respectfully, the business owner came and talked to over 30 of us: no cursing, yelling, etc. and we talked like adults and spoke with each other. Shook hands and got on with our protests. This group is NOT that way. The police get called 4 times by them when I’ve been out in the area on public property, and every time the cops said everything is legal, no crazy stuff. The police actually checked it out and saw I never trespassed, cursed, but was respectful. The first time the cops met with the doctor they told him leave her alone, ignore her. Yet I get lawyers and cops?
2) Said he didn’t know of global weakness after surgery in my records but there are research articles/papers on neuropathies due to nutritional problems. All of which (nutritional problems) I have in droves after surgery. I feel that should have been caught. Including gallbladder issues that 2 other surgical subspecialist opinions, an ED doc, my PCP at the time, etc. said its her gallbladder: ditch it. I was in pain for months from the gallbladder, finally the counselors at the insurance that I talked with every month (who knew I wasn’t crazy) talked to the insurance people who called the admin & the surgeon directly. All of a sudden, things changed and I got surgery.
I never did get an answer about what specifically was the problem with giving me surgery. If someone isn’t eating and getting rid of a gallbladder helps, why not do it?
3) Told me to go figure out how to exercise and my diet. So I paid for their nut (an extra fee no one else has in the area) and they can’t solve dietary issues after surgery? So I’m not a practicing MD or RD, and I can solve them or am expected to? Then when every doctor says to me you need nutritional help, and spoke with this surgeon’s office, the nut/other doc would not take the case until they spoke with him. Amazing how things changed & of course I didn’t get any care (and there is none in the area). Yet I was called “noncompliant” when their own nut asked on their support list for suggestions to help me. I got called “noncompliant” when the last notes in my records said I ate chicken, meat, etc.
4) Telling me at 16 months out I had no further surgical needs. Many doctors have disagreed. The ASMBS disagrees. I was never out of his office by 3 months at the most. Yet they treat people for problems that GI’s or PCP’s could treat at farther out than me.
5) If you discuss HIPAA or go to admin, you may not have care in the area. It is my understanding there is a non compete agreement between them and the other biggest group in the area, but no one wants to confirm this in writing. The reason why I say this is that I put up allegations of a HIPAA problem to the admin on 4/17/13. On 4/19/13, I was dropped. On 4/22/13 it was confirmed that an investigation was ongoing and the office knew of my complaint. On 4/26/13, the HIPAA office called me back (not in writing in 7 days as is advertised) and said they found nothing wrong. They have refused to confirm my phone records that this is a timeline or the timeline they were investigating. HIPAA law states no retaliation. I asked for the specific proof in the records of non compliance, etc. and have yet to receive any, nor the answers to the questions I’ve had regarding this.
6) His relative rated him on one area. Its been removed now AFAIK, but that bothers me.
7) One of the recommendations for a plastic surgeon (2nd one) was for a doc with a multimillion $ verdict for a patient who died.
8) I would review recommendations against medical research. Always …
9) I got dumped off the support group when its for people who are interested in surgery, and although I never posted on there, so I don’t know what the reason for me being dropped is. I’ve never said anything on the list about anything that has happened, and I do have friends there. I send congrats at times to people. Now what could I have done that deserves banning when I’ve done nothing against their rules? I help people out, and if I am able to solve nutritional issues without them, & they couldn’t, isn’t that exactly the sort of person you want on a support group? Are the patients paramount in priority?
10) When the records say I eat a lot of headaches, maybe its time to go back and investigate the autocorrect and/or the speech software. While funny, its a problem when you are trying to work with other HCP’s in your health. I had a lot of those types of HUH? that way. Another example: it said I was doing a “Patriot Challenge”. One there is no Patriot Challenge. There was a triathlon but not in the time frame mentioned in the records and you can google it on the internet (2012). A masters’ swimmer friend was doing a triathlon that I said I wanted to do (Rumpass in Bumpass). Trying to get records fixed so they accurately reflect, big hassle. I mean come on, if you tell my mom I came to during the surgery, put that in the records. That is an issue that I need followed.
11) Please make sure that you check the research before giving an opinion. Several options, like PICC line covers, were made that way and are publically available. Word to the wise: “you know I dont like it when you do that” is not exactly medical evidence that says I can or can’t do something. Some of us like to be reasoned with. I’m paying the doctor, and whether or not they like something or not is immaterial. I’m not here to please the doctor. I’m here to get health care and work with someone as a team, using research & the art together for my health. I’m pretty savvy and the medical librarians know me.
12) I was so traumatized after a few months of the constant dogging from “what are you eating” and weighing in, I won’t do it now at a docs office. Just the mental memories of that time frame and I can’t handle it any longer. When someone is losing weight and the whole world is ok with it but the bariatric surgeon, maybe a different tact than forcing someone helps. Telling them they push your buttons, probably not the way to get a patient to open up. That’s just me. I wasn’t even asked what the problem was and if I had said ‘you are so negative about it and you’re the only one that way, you won’t fix my gallbladder and won’t listen to me’, would I have gotten the same anger at me?
13) Having an office staff member not be available at surgery because “I had a party to plan for” probably isn’t going to win respect. I’ve seen some excellent work out of a few of the ladies there, but that one its not one some one forgets.
14) If you only do partial nutritional checks and you don’t go within research current definitions for nutrition, work with our docs office. Different docs were expecting them to do things which weren’t done or only partial bloodwork (an example) were done. So when I went back to my PCP, and this group didn’t run it because ‘we only run what is usual for us/patients’, and then you tell me you just take care of nutrition, well … the PCP’s don’t know about nutrition and they’re expecting you take care of ALL of it. Like you said!
15) He told my Mom and I that he would be back that afternoon to check on me, the day after the gallbladder surgery. My parents are over 70 years old. They have some major traffic areas to go through to get to the hospital. They had to leave, switch cars out at home and come back for me (my Mom did). So she waited there for 2.5 to 3 hours and he never shows. My dad got dinner later for nothing and my Mom had to scurry in rush hour traffic at her age because he didn’t come back.
16) Call me silly but I don’t think asking if a number of things are ethical of the ethics group and then I get a team that is at least half lawyers, is something that I think goes within the realm of needing to rethink that. Why be so heavy handed? I’m honest in that there are aspects of my care I disagreed with. Aspects that I don’t think should have been told to current docs but they were. Why lawyer happy?
I’ve got other examples. Please be careful and investigate aftercare and other situations very thoroughly. No care in the area, etc. and I’ve got health problems. Please be careful and research because I speak out so that no one ever gets this treatment (no care, cops, lawyers, etc.). That is what matters now.
Bariatric Help 