Assistant Surgeon - is it necessary?

[mandems mom 3]

I've recently learned that my Mexican doctor of choice (Dr. Kelly) does not have an assistant surgeon in the operating room with him and he does the entire surgery by himself (with surgical assistants/nurses present). In my case, I'm having my lap band removed and revised to the sleeve. I'm assuming the lack of an assistant surgeon is largely cost savings and probably preference as well, but I'm questioning whether that's a good thing. I would appreciate any perspective on this. Thanks!

[Stacy160 201]

Mine didn't have an assistant.... not sure why one would even be needed, honestly.

[Tarain 2]

I've recently learned that my Mexican doctor of choice (Dr. Kelly) does not have an assistant surgeon in the operating room with him and he does the entire surgery by himself (with surgical assistants/nurses present). In my case, I'm having my lap band removed and revised to the sleeve. I'm assuming the lack of an assistant surgeon is largely cost savings and probably preference as well, but I'm questioning whether that's a good thing. I would appreciate any perspective on this. Thanks!

I have no medical background so I cannot honestly say if it is important to have an assistant surgeon that is physically helping during the surgery. I will say that I was sleeved by Dr Kelly and all went perfectly, I wasn't a band revision but he did take out my gall bladder during my surgery. I will also say that when I had my surgery and while I was recovering in Tijuana, Dr Kelly only performed 2 - 3 surgeries in a day. I might have been concerned about this if he was perfoming surgeries all day long, because of the aspect of fatigue.

Once again, just my opinion, but as long as he had a medical Dr in the room assissting him as needed, I was comfortable with that because Dr Kelly has an impressive background. Another thing that makes it ok with me is that the surgery itself is not a long surgery and is considered to be more safe than other WLS. Still, I could certainly understand how some would feel more comfortable if there were more surgeons working on them.

I guess it comes down to your own personal comfort zone. I have never read of any complaints about Dr Kelly's surgical skills or any complications from surgery. Honestly, complications can happen to anyone, no matter how many surgeons are working on them.

The best advice I can give you is to do what you are truely comfortable with. If this is something that is going to be in the back of your mind the whole time then maybe you should consider another Dr.

Good luck with whatever you decide! I hope more people will chime in with their opinions. I know it's a big help when you can hear different points of view.

[Foxbins 625]

I guess I would only be concerned if I thought my surgeon might drop dead in the middle of my procedure or become otherwise incapacitated...who would take over and how long would it take to get somebody else to scrub in?

Probably a good question to ask him.