DONNAZANG

Mesaucedo I accept your apology. I'm sorry too that I misunderstood. I am so impressed by your humble words. Thanks and blessings, Donna

For mesaucedo, I'm glad you know exactly what you want when looking for a surgeon. I know also what I am looking for. People are asking questions and there are those on here that seem to think that if their doctor made a mistake its somehow a reflection on them. So they jump to his defense. All I have done is brought to light the things I know. Even if I had an amazing experience, I can't see jumping in and stating things I know nothing about. My personal experience with this man is not good. I don't want a loose cannon operating on me. What I look for may be different. I absolutely researched his credentials. That is important. I looked at patient testimonies. That is very important. I checked out the facilities that seem to be ever changing. It's important. I also researched the anesthesiologist. He is equally important as the surgeon. I want someone with a good rep. I saw he was a fellow at ACS. He had residencies in my hometowns. I was super excited about this doctor....until I spoke with him personally. He sounded like he was from the ghetto. I caught him in lies. That is a big deal. He has covered up a death that he caused calling it an embolism when in fact he nicked an artery. I understand making mistakes. But the humility to admit it and not cover it up is important. Unfortunately you say one death is no big deal. That death was a human being with a family. I have six kids. If I die it's a big deal. My family should at least know what happened. They should be able to grieve. . If he is able to lie like this and try to cover up the fact that he killed a patient, who knows what length he'd go to without the same accountability he had in this case. This is not the only nicked artery. There have been many, and increasingly so in recent months. I don't understand jumping to his defense. Perhaps he is going through something...? We all do. And we all make mistakes. Except in the case of this doctor. People seem to think he's God. You may not see being a Christian as important. I do. I wasn't imposing my views on anyone, (not that I wouldn't. Iknow it is not God's will that any should perish but that all come to repentance.) Just stating the discrepancies between what he said and what he did, and what he stated on two separate occasions and how they contradicted each other. I didn't not schedule with him for this reason alone. Even if he was not a Christian I probably would have schedule with him. He's dishonest. He no longer has the reputation he once had. Call the hospitals he's worked at. He lost all his priveledges to three hospitals.But the reason I want a Christian, and no, that is not my only consideration, is because I want God's blessing on all I do. I want a surgeon who is not only skilled but Spirit led. I want divine intervention. I do not expect you to understand. An excellent surgeon does not lie and is not a jerk. He needs to work well with his team and others around him to be truly effective. I'm glad you're confident. I'm sure, as with most of his patients, you will be fine. I, on the other hand, just want more. I don't want to be cut open by someone I don't trust as a person. I can't separate the person from the surgeon. I will be going with someone else...

Of course, here we go! A doctor has been caught lying, taking back door patients, not reading medical charts, having patients die and lying to cover it up. Sounds like a horror story to me. Just because you made it through with flying colors does not make Debbie any less dead. Do you people truly believe that this is a business issue only? Why on earth would a coordinator turn on their top surgeon just to drum up business for another? Why would they risk people not using their services at all, due to the fact that their highly favored surgeon that most people have researched and been impressed with, by turning people away from him? How do they profit from that? Why are people so worried about their pride that they have to defend the surgeon who performed their procedure? This is a very potentially dangerous thing...having surgery alone, but to do it in a foreign country where people are not held to the standards our doctors are here. We have to research and when we find out that someone's life may be at risk by going to a particular doctor it is our responsibility to let them know. Why would ANYONE be offended?! By the way, skinnycow, I spoke to a surprised Dr Kelly back in December. You spoke to a surprised Dr Kelly in January. See the discrepancy? After being totally surprised by all this he then claimed in an email to me that he dumped them first....

Andrea, Yes, people know about the fact that there are issues between the coordinators and Dr Kelly. Someone here was asking about him and I had personal conversations with him that show a completely different character than what those thousands of patients saw. When questioned, another side of him comes out. He may have a lot of experience, but his character, the one I have had recent personal experience with, seems shady and dishonest. You asked what more reassurance I want than to read testimonies of happy patients. I just wanted HIS reassurance. I was giving him a chance to respond. What I got was him lying and blaming the coordinators. The first time I spoke with him he told me that it would have been nice to know that his coordinators were no longer referring patients to him. He said, "well, if they wanna play it that way...they were no good at representing me anyhow." The email said, "they're just bitter because I dumped them." So what is it they stopped representing him or he dumped them? Why on earth would he say they were no good at representing him? If you look up his name on the internet, anywhere you see it and click on it, it leads you to alighterme.com. I have verified with two hospitals that he is no longer able to practice in them. Something is going on. I just think if someone has their concerns that they should be informed as well as possible. I responded to his email. I told him that we had spoken on the phone prior to the email and that his responses were contradictory. He addressed his response to: "Donna" if that's really your name and not a fake patient sent by the ladies. Later on he calls me by name with quotations around it. I will not be going to him and that is disappointing to me because I have to start over, but I need character as well as skill. I don't want someone who I have personally caught lying to operate on me. I will be going with my gut. Dr Garcia sounds like a good choice and after speaking with both Sandy and Linda, I don't understand why you insult either of them. Sandy did not come off as "the goofy" as you call her. They both seemed very passionate about what they are doing, being WLS patients themselves. I felt really at ease the first time I spoke with Sandy. It was a very long conversation and it seemed like we connected. I almost felt guilty calling Dr Kelly in regards to what she said because she seemed so honest it felt like a betrayal. But I'm going to do all I can to get the truth. I spoke with LInda today and it was the same thing. These women are making money to coordinate surgeries. Is this what upsets you? They are nice people doing their job. Everyone expects that they will get paid for doing their job. After speaking with and email corresponding with Dr Kelly, I got a really bad feeling from him. I will be doing my research, starting over, and I'll say again, I just thought people should know.

I also was considering using Dr Kelly. I was so excited and bragging about doing my homework, to my family, and how great this docs reputation was. I loved that he had done a residency in LA, my home, and Kalamazoo, MI where my church has a sattellite. I thought it was a sign. A month or so ago I received a call from Sandy. We talked for over an hour. I let her know that although she sounded concerned, honest and trustworthy, I didn't know her or if I could trust her. I called Trish's number myself that night. He answered the phone himself. I told him of my conversation with an alighterme coordinator. (I was unaware there were only two of them). He knew who I was speaking of right away. His words to me were, "they could've at least let me know. Okay, they want to play it that way... they weren't very good at representing me anyhow." I felt that that was a very unprofessional response. It bothered me and I didn't think I could use him. Then I considered how I had asked if he were a Christian, which is important to me, and he said he was. He said he prays with alll his patients. Then I reconsidered his words about the coordinators and just figured he was upset and just found out through me that he was no longer being represented. So I decided rather than start researching more docs, I would look for anything anywhere else negative about him. I didn't find much other than one or two things on here that people seemed to think was just a "coordinator's war." It made sense. I didn't know how to schedule with him and was looking for a very good price, so I emailed him yesterday to find out how much it was going to cost and how to schedule with him and let him know of my concerns about what I was hearing. I didn't tell him we had previously talked on the phone. His response to me was that the coordinators were bitter because he "dumped them" because they were not concerned with patient care. This is not at all consistent with what he told me before. I had asked him to put my mind at ease about the rumors about patient safety and all he did was tear down the women who once coordinated all his surgeries. I wrote him back saying that I only wanted him to put my mind at ease about his reputation and skills, but he never mentioned it. I told him that although we all make mistakes, this was not how a Christian should run his business; with dishonest practices. He only talked badly about his former coordinators. He didn't defend his record. He lied. I am so disappointed. Now I need to start all over. I just thought people should know.

I saw your post here and I'm new. I don't know if I'm even responding properly. I found this post by searching for info on Dr Garcia on Google. I received a call today from a woman named alma. She was calling from Ready4Achange.com. We talked about bariatric surgeries and she recommended Dr. Garcia above all those other doctors, and she actually works for all of those four. Ready 4 a Change is rated well with the BBB. I don't know if that makes a difference. Anyhow, I was wondering if you got your surgery and if so, who with. Would your recommend doing it and with the doctor you chose? I have been doing a lot of research and am very interested and excited about surgery. I am also apprehensive about doing it in Mexico. Please contact me at your earliest convenience. BTW...I am a mommy to six also:) Thanks and blessings, Donna donnazang@msn.com