Comments on: Searching for Surgeon with clean record

By: wiley_300

wiley_300 — Thu, 08 May 2003 13:50:04 +0000

In a message dated 1/15/2002 2:05:49 AM Pacific Standard Time,
garlandj@… writes:
Where does this statistic come from?

By: Bryan Rosalina

Bryan Rosalina — Thu, 08 May 2003 10:10:26 +0000

that is an interesting point you made about that the percentage is across the
board, which means the average. I know there are a good number of surgeons that
have never lost a patient and even more who have only lost a few, but then there
are those few who are still in practice that have lost up to 5% - THAT IS SCARY.

By: helen150

helen150 — Tue, 06 May 2003 21:47:43 +0000

That percentage is across the board…..an average for all surgeons. That
doesn’t mean that all surgeons have lost someone. Maybe that’s a way for a
surgeon to justify his loss of a patient but not for everyone. There are
risks for any surgery but I will still choose a surgeon that hasn’t had any
deaths under their belt.
Amber

By: Bryan Rosalina

Bryan Rosalina — Fri, 02 May 2003 00:09:26 +0000

Actually Luanna, my surgeon is having me do some research for him because he
wants the name of another surgeon who has the same success as he does so they
can swap notes.
He has been doing WLS exclusively for almost 22 years and has never lost a
patient. He has been doing gastric bypass for 8 years. He has always sent his
patients home within 24 hours. He is devoted 100% to one patient for the entire
day, he comes in and helps you get up only 3 hours after he has completed the
surgery and he walks with you twice around the hospital floor (1/8 mile). He
then has you do this every two hours even through the night. At 5 hours he
takes the IV out and has you take any pain meds by mouth, liquid pain meds. He
also has you drink water and snack on ice. He believes that people do much
better in the comfort of their own home with family and away from disease and
sick people. He calls you at home for a week, every night, and he requires that
you call in every day and give updates. His practice is based on this method
and he is extremely successful. It seems weird to a lot of people, so you are

not alone. BUT, I must say, that his success must be taken in to account.
He is now giving some conferences to other surgeons of all specialties and this
method has started to become an epidemic in our area.

By: Cody Bailey

Cody Bailey — Thu, 01 May 2003 05:05:06 +0000

The more important question to ask is *why* a surgeon’s patients die.
Is it because s/he is inxperienced with a procedure? An incompetent
hack? Or is s/he a skilled, experienced surgeon who is willing to take
on patients who are less-than-ideal surgical risks, but who may have
great benefit from surgery? A surgeon’s stats will look great if s/he
only operates on essentially healthy patients–but a surgeon like that
won’t be much use to anyone else!
Steve
RNY 8/31/98

By: harold_2000

harold_2000 — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 20:47:14 +0000

In a message dated 1/11/02 11:50:50 PM, garlandj@… writes:
<< Does anyone know of a surgeon, anywhere in the world, that has never
lost a WLS patient? This would include a patient that died on the
table or due to complications from the surgery.
Thanks so much
Jennifer
Jennifer,
My surgeon has a wonderful record as far as I’m concerned. However, even he
has lost 3 patients who had wls. That’s because when very morbidly obese
people decide to have wls they also may have some very serious comorbidities.
None of these patients died as a result of the surgery, but rather as a
result of serious comorbities. Two had serious heart problems going into the
surgery and for the life of me I can’t remember what the problem was with the
other patient. When I went in for my consult I asked my surgeon many
questions about these deaths until I was satisfied that he was a wonderfully

skillful surgeon that I would trust with my life. Would I rather that he
didn’t give those people who died a chance at life through wls even knowing
that it was a huge risk? No, I applaud him for that. Other surgeons
probably would have turned them away. Their days were numbered with or
without the surgery. I guess my point in all of this is that statistics
really don’t mean as much as having the information to go with them. I did
make sure that my surgeon was very experienced and had a low complication
rate. Good luck to you in your search!
Vicki
open RNY 6/28/01

By: Adolph Sherly

Adolph Sherly — Mon, 28 Apr 2003 05:48:58 +0000

You are asking the impossible. No surgeon worth anything would let a
patient go home before they no longer needed nursing, and the only
surgeon who never lost a patient is one who never did surgery.
The death rate from surgery of all kinds on all people is 0.1%.
Surgery of any kind includes a risk of dying, and those of us having
gastric bypass surgery are at greater risk of dying from the surgery
because we are not as healthy as the average person.
Luanne