Do I have a good surgeon?

[MaMa-C-Ta 0]

Hi All,

I just registered on this site today . . . although I have been viewing postss for weeks. I am having my VSG surgery next month and am having second thoughts. I recently read that death and complications from surgery are usually linked to how many surgeries your surgeon has performed. I like my surgeon but I don't think she does a lot of VSG surgeries. How can I find out?

Thanks for your help!!

[Stacy160 201]

See if she has a profile on obesityhelp.com. If she's kept it up to date, it should list how many she's done, and also have patient reviews for you to check out.

[TexasT 99]

Just ask her! Even though I used the same surgeon for my VSG that had done my lap-band, I still asked him how many revisions he had done, how many VSG's in all and what his complication rate was, if anyone had had leaks, and his overall complication rate for all WLS surgeries. The nurse gave me the info with no problem.

Also, you might go ahead and give out your doc's name and see if anyone else on here has used her. You are smart about being careful with this. When I was in the hospital a lady down the hall from me was in there because her first surgeon (a guy who typically operated on colons and was fairly new in the WLS game) had botched her VSG and she had to get someone else to re-operate to fix it. There are a few docs jumping on the bandwagon trying to get those WLS $$$, and they are not as experienced as others who have been doing these types of surgeries for years.

My surgeon started out as a general surgeon specializing in laproscopic procedures who also did WLS. Now he's pretty much all WLS, but he's done thousands of surgeries and hundreds upon hundreds of WLS. When you're having something as permanent and drastic as a VSG, do as much homework as possible when choosing a doc. Good luck!

[MaMa-C-Ta 0]

My surgeon is Dr. Halpin in Portland, OR. Her profile on obesityhelp.com is NOT up-to-date. I know she is very experienced with Lap Band & Gastric ByPass surgeries. Thanks for the info.