Dr Kelly

[beachbum 6]

I went to TJ for vsg with Dr. Kelly, my patient coordinator was Sandy and I am very happy with the service I have received through Sandy. However, I do have some serious concerns regarding the coordinator Trish. Sandy took the time to answer all my questions and helped me prepare for my surgery, about a week prior, Trish called me and offered me a discount if I canceled and then re-booked with her. What the hell is that all about?

I was well cared for during my whole trip, upon arrival I received a survival bag that contained a folder of information regarding my post op diet, gatorade, broth, lemon-glycerine swabs, chapstick, a Diet Minder diary to record my eating habits and information about Tijuana. I had the misfortune of meeting Trish at the hospital, she was over an hour late which I find very disrespectful and rude. Her apology was flimsy and phoney. Dr. Kelly was kind and courteous, I felt comfortable with him. florence Health was acceptable but not as nice as other hospitals I have used in other parts of Mexico. My procedure was uneventful and I was well prepared by my coordinator for the post op phase. After my procedure, I was taken to the Lucerna and 'hit up' by Trish for 22.00 upgrade - typical Mexican!

Dr. Romero provided my aftercare and was wonderful, he has called me several times since my return home and has been very helpful and considerate, I would highly recommend him. I know other patients were handled by Trish, I am not sure I would want to be taken care of by someone with no medical background. It was disconcerting to hear tales from other patients of her taking them shopping while they were nauseous and hauling them off only to shops that she receives a kick back from.

The part that has me most concerned is my friend is also booked with Dr. Kelly in late April - she wanted her procedure at a different facility. Trish called her and 'informed' her that Dr. Kelly no longer has privileges at 3 of the alternative hospitals she had selected. It seems that florence is the only facility he is allowed to practice medicine in which is raising HUGE doubts about ethics of Dr. Kelly! I think if I had to do it all over again, I would still use A Lighter Me but select another surgeon in Tijuana and avoid the whole Ishy Trishy conflict.

[KellyL 173]

What was your price for Dr Kelly if you don't mind my asking? These coordinator wars are really getting brutal. And one min you are saying you were happy with your care but at the end you are recommending your coordinator but a different surgeon? This is all confusing and it really isn't fair to turn these reviews of these drs who we are putting our lives into their hands, and making it about the other ppl. I guess Dr Kelly has his reasons for having more than 1 coordinator but wow. I hope it don't end up causing ppl to question his skills as a surgeon. It certainly is causing me concern and questioning the integrity and sincerity of the coordinators and to be honest some posts that I've read recently. I understand we get the price we do because of the hospital he uses because it's not brand new or fancy. But I've heard it is very clean, and I prefer the price over a newer facility. I want excellent care and cleanliness. This is the first I've heard of him "losing priviledges". Why and how could that happen with so many positive experiences posted all the time??

And to be honest, I find your "typical mexican" comment very offensive!! You didn't mind going to Mexico for your surgery or using a MX dr, when it benefits you, but when you're offered a nicer luxury hotel for an incredibly fair price you insult them. I am just not understanding this at all. There are a lot of accusations and insinuations in this post and it's your first post. Very suspicious....

[groovearmada 14]

I completely agree with what Kelly has just said. You are entitled to your opinion, however, there is certain ways to express it on a public forum. Like Kelly, i do question the validity of what you have said and have a feeling alex will be involved soon. There are a few things you mentioned that completely conflict what i have just been through.

I am also deeply offended by the "typical mexican" comment as well. It is just totally bad taste. I wonder why you went to Mexico at all if this is how you regard the people there? As for calling people names "ishy trish"?? Again, bad taste. I would suggest you grow up a bit and like an adult, if you have a problem with something, deal with it in a mature fashion.

[ATLGirl 134]

As a recent patient of Dr. Kelly, who booked with Sandy, I can tell this post is a complete fake. You are not provided survival bag upon arrival. I mean I literally LOL's when you mentioned a bunch of bul about "regarding my post op diet, gatorade, broth, lemon-glycerine swabs, chapstick, a Diet Minder diary to record my eating habits and information about Tijuana." Who gave you this bag? Trish? Sandy? PLEASE

Trish does meet you at the hospital, and though she isn't my cup of tea, she isn't rude (but she is very religious). Dr. Romero makew no follow-up calls. Because of his schedule he ask that you join his post -op e-mail group and phone him if there are any major concerns. I have spoken to him once and gotten one general post op e-mail.

What I think is happening here is Sandy is look for new biz. When I was in Mexico, Trish was getting ready to branch out into her own company. There is a whole thread dedicated to the shady coordinators and how it hurts Dr. Kelly, who is a WONDERFUL doctor.

I hope this person is removed soon and this thread is terminated.

[Kimmes 38]

Wow I am shocked by this post BeachBum! Please read my personal experience and you will see the exact opposite of what you are writing!

Lucerna is an upgrade over the basic hotel and it does indeed always cost $22 more - Your coordinator Sandy should have told you that in advance so you would not think Trish was "hitting you up". That is very offensive to me - it is her job to collect this additional $$ to cover the cost - it is more expensive than the basic hotel that is included in the basic package - again Sandy should explain that to you.

As far as admitting to various hospitals - Mexico is far different from the US. I think these doctors are required to have a certain "volume" of patients in order to use facilities. The cost difference can be significant and most patients are looking at the total cost as once of the decision factors when going to Mexico - I just think Dr Kelly does not have enought patients who want to pay the extra $$$ to use Hospital Angeles (for example) and INT was not as nice as Florance from what I hear. So be for you say "Florance is the only hospital he is allowed to practice at" I suggest you understand the reason behind that! You make it sound like it is because of Dr Kelly - when it actually comes down to cost and # of patients.

My experience with both Dr Kelly and Trish was excellent! I would not hesitate to take any family member or friend to Dr Kelly. There was no survival bag given to me - but they did provide gaterade, broth and a follow up diet. What was most important to me was the surgical care from Dr Kelly A++++, the cleanliness of the hospital A++ and my personal safety A+++.

You have never posted before and you come on here and bash an excellent surgeon and his kind personal coordinator/assistant, resort to name calling and racist comments - something is shady about this post.

Kim

[Tarain 2]

I too thought it was very suspicious that this person posted this topic just 30 minutes after joining the site. Looks like they joined specifically to place this post. Seems like the person who posted this has ulterior motives for this post. To state that a Dr "no longer has privileges" at other hospitals based solely on "word of mouth" and no physical proof as to if it is true is rather underhanded. Also strange that the post starts off with praising Dr Kelly and then ends with bad remarks toward Dr Kelly. So pretty much, if you're going to Dr Kelly you should absolutely go to Sandy, but just in case you don't, please don't forget that Sandy represents other Doctors. Was that the correct message you were trying to put forward?

Also odd that the remarks are quite personal towards Trish. For example, "typical mexican" and "Ishy Trishy". Honestly, I believe that Sandy, the coordinator has a part in this, which is quite sad. Anyone who has been sleeved by Dr Kelly knows this is complete BS. And anyone that has met Trish will know this is BS. I don't believe that Trish forced anyone to go shopping while they were ill and weak. She certainly never forced me to go anywhere! She offered to take me anywhere I wanted to go to, if and when I felt like it, and if I didn't feel like it she offered to pick up anything I needed.

[Amos2 1]

Beachbum is full of it

[groovearmada 14]

I am really disppointed that this post has not been deleted by the sites admin. I reported it for racial comments a week ago. I come on here for help and advice, I do not want to read racist, intolerant remarks by bogus posters.

[mandems mom 3]

I'm not here to bash anyone and I can't comment on Beach Bum's experience with Trish or the care package, but I can confirm that Dr. Kelly has been trying to have people go directly through his assistant rather than the US coordinators so that he can get a bigger portion of the surgery dollars. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it's causing contention with his US coordinators because he and Trish are not being upfront about it. I can also confirm the part about Dr. Kelly not being allowed to work out of various hospitals due to strained relationships with hospital owners, etc. I don't know the specifics of what he's done, but having done a lot of professional work in Mexico, I do know that something as simple as a personality conflict can put you on someone's "do not work with" list. If you look at my previous posts, I was scheduled to have surgery with Dr. Kelly on April 26 but was unable to do so because of him not being allowed to work at a new hospital that was scheduled to open April 15. At this point, I'm waiting on a refund of my deposit.

I got all of this information straight from Sandy as well as my coordinator. My husband refused to let me have surgery at florence Hospital based on the reviews and a conversation I had with a local nurse who went there (ampsgirl) who said it was fine, but straight out the 80s. If we were going to Mexico my husband needed to know that I would be comfortable and that it was truly a full service hospital; not one that didn't have a radiology department to do the leak test which therefore meant you were transported to another hospital. Those were more his demands than mine, but I had to respect that. Please understand that I do not at all question Dr. Kelly's skills as a surgeon however, from what I was told he has burned a lot of bridges with the Tijuana medical community which is why he is no longer allowed at INT, Hospital MI Doctor (the new one) or Excel. After receiving the final word from Sandy last Wednesday that the new hospital's owner absolutely refused to allow Dr. Kelly to work there, I did not want to deal with whatever drama may be going on with him and chose to frantically reschedule my surgery this past Thursday for Sunday, April 17th with Dr. Rodriguez.. I'm now back home doing wonderfully and learned additional information as to why Dr. Kelly isn't allowed to practice at INT where I went. With all that going on, I was concerned that he wouldn't be welcome in Tijuana long term and chose to use a doctor that I had researched just as thoroughly, but has wonderful relations within the medical community. Sandy and my coordinator gave me the option of going with 2 other doctors that Sandy represents who are allowed to work at the new hospital, however, I felt too rushed to do adequate research and they primarily worked with the Mexican community so it was very difficult to find any feedback from US patients. Dr. Rodriguez is only in Tijuana for 1 week per month and it happened to be this week, hence the rushed timeframe. Again, my intent to write this is not to bash Dr. Kelly's skills as a surgeon as I have heard nothing buy wonderful things from his patients. I just wanted to feel comfortable with the whole experience and couldn't in good faith do that given the information I was provided.

[Tarain 2]

Mandems Mom,

I can appreciate that you're not wanting to bash anyone and I also believe that your post is from your honest opinion, unlike Beachbum's. However, I don't understand how you can "confirm" any information that you are only getting through word of mouth from Sandy. I think it is pretty clear there is some tension between the coordinators now, so I personally would not claim to be able to "confirm" anything that is simply word of mouth from someone who is desparately competing for business from other coordinators and promoting other Doctors on top of that.

If that was all I needed to "confirm" something, then I can confirm that Doctor Kelly charges the exact same fee from all of the coordinators. The coordinators then add whatever extra fee the want when they give you the final total. That is why often times you will be quoted different prices from different coordinators for the same exact procedure. For example, I was quoted 5300 from one person and 5700 from another.

Also, something I was told by another coordinator was that Dr Kelly stopped working in INT hospital because there were so many problems with infections within that hospital, so I guess I can "confirm" that bit of information as well. Also, I was never swayed by Dr Kelly to go to a different coordinator. Did he personally try to get you to go with one over the other or is this just another bit of information Sandy shared with you?

My point here is that all though you may believe your information is correct, you only have "word of mouth" from someone who may have personal reasons to not be completely honest. Whatever I was told by the coordinators I was in contact with, I took with a grain of salt. I don't consider this information as a confirmation of anything. If you want to confirm something, contact Dr Kelly himself or contact the hospitals, don't go by "gossip".

I honesty don't mean for this to sound like I am bashing you because I think you were sincere in your post, it just sounds like you are trying to turn gossip into fact, which I think is wrong.

[mandems mom 3]

Mandems Mom,

I can appreciate that you're not wanting to bash anyone and I also believe that your post is from your honest opinion, unlike Beachbum's. However, I don't understand how you can "confirm" any information that you are only getting through word of mouth from Sandy. I think it is pretty clear there is some tension between the coordinators now, so I personally would not claim to be able to "confirm" anything that is simply word of mouth from someone who is desparately competing for business from other coordinators and promoting other Doctors on top of that.

If that was all I needed to "confirm" something, then I can confirm that Doctor Kelly charges the exact same fee from all of the coordinators. The coordinators then add whatever extra fee the want when they give you the final total. That is why often times you will be quoted different prices from different coordinators for the same exact procedure. For example, I was quoted 5300 from one person and 5700 from another.

Also, something I was told by another coordinator was that Dr Kelly stopped working in INT hospital because there were so many problems with infections within that hospital, so I guess I can "confirm" that bit of information as well. Also, I was never swayed by Dr Kelly to go to a different coordinator. Did he personally try to get you to go with one over the other or is this just another bit of information Sandy shared with you?

My point here is that all though you may believe your information is correct, you only have "word of mouth" from someone who may have personal reasons to not be completely honest. Whatever I was told by the coordinators I was in contact with, I took with a grain of salt. I don't consider this information as a confirmation of anything. If you want to confirm something, contact Dr Kelly himself or contact the hospitals, don't go by "gossip".

I honesty don't mean for this to sound like I am bashing you because I think you were sincere in your post, it just sounds like you are trying to turn gossip into fact, which I think is wrong.

I am certainly not trying to gossip and simply relayed information that I was given. Whether it's fact or fiction, it's very clear that there is something going on. I'm pretty sure my original facilitators wouldn't have risked losing my business if they could have gotten Dr. Kelly to work at any of the facilities that I requested, but they couldn't. For all I know, Beach Bum could be Sandy in disguise trying to turn people off from Dr. Kelly and that wasn't the intent of my post. However, I did speak with doctors at INT when I had my surgery there and they confirmed that he is not ALLOWED to work there. They would not tell me why except to say that it was a decision that the owner made. I won't relay the information that I was given by my new facilitator who claims to know firsthand what happened, as that would seem like gossip to you as well, but it's in line with other "rumors" that I've been told about him. Again, I'm not knocking Dr. Kelly on his surgical expertise as that's what sold me on him in the first place and I can assure you that any of the "rumors" have nothing to do with patients. But I do want a doctor that can play nice with others and will continue to be a part of the medical community in the future should I need assistance. I didn't get the warm fuzzies that I needed to feel confident with that and thus chose to go elsewhere. I doubt very highly that the hospitals will provide information as to why they won't work with a particular doctor, but I'm sure they will give you a yes or no. I also doubt that Dr. Kelly would be honest about being banned from hospitals if that's the case. For me, it all worked out for the best and I had a wonderful experience with my new doctor and don't regret a thing.

[KellyL 173]

Again, this thread is about coordinators, hospitals, and hearsay bs. It should not have the title Dr Kelly and is very unfair to this dr and his past, present, or prospective patients. I find it interesting however, that even Dr Kellys enemys and rivals can't even say anything negative about his skills as a dr. That speaks volumes to me.

If a particular hospital is more important to you, that's fine. There are other drs at your facility of choice. But why come here stating "confirmations" as if they came from anyone of importance? She is a disgruntled employee as far as I am concerned, who wants you to use a dr and hospital in which she can get her cut. Of course she wants to steer people to benefit herself. I was never interested in using a coordinator that was anywhere but in MX with Dr Kelly. How can a US coordinator help me get around there?

Anyway, i am confident in my choice of surgeon. He has done a high # of procedures, lots of experience, low complication rate, great caring bedside manner, trauma training and background, gives you 2 nites in a hospital, 2 nites in a hotel where he comes to visit you, and does 3 leak tests. There may be much better facilities, but not necessarily cleaner. Theres other Mex Drs that use older facilities as well. Some of them charging $2000-$3000 more. Unless you've had surgery with Dr Kelly and have an actual true experience, then why contribute in posts about said surgeon unless you have ulterior motives? It just looks like you're doing damage control for the ignorant and racist post that Beachbum left, which didn't fool anyone as to her motive.

[mandems mom 3]

Again, this thread is about coordinators, hospitals, and hearsay bs. It should not have the title Dr Kelly and is very unfair to this dr and his past, present, or prospective patients. I find it interesting however, that even Dr Kellys enemys and rivals can't even say anything negative about his skills as a dr. That speaks volumes to me.

If a particular hospital is more important to you, that's fine. There are other drs at your facility of choice. But why come here stating "confirmations" as if they came from anyone of importance? She is a disgruntled employee as far as I am concerned, who wants you to use a dr and hospital in which she can get her cut. Of course she wants to steer people to benefit herself. I was never interested in using a coordinator that was anywhere but in MX with Dr Kelly. How can a US coordinator help me get around there?

Anyway, i am confident in my choice of surgeon. He has done a high # of procedures, lots of experience, low complication rate, great caring bedside manner, trauma training and background, gives you 2 nites in a hospital, 2 nites in a hotel where he comes to visit you, and does 3 leak tests. There may be much better facilities, but not necessarily cleaner. Theres other Mex Drs that use older facilities as well. Some of them charging $2000-$3000 more. Unless you've had surgery with Dr Kelly and have an actual true experience, then why contribute in posts about said surgeon unless you have ulterior motives? It just looks like you're doing damage control for the ignorant and racist post that Beachbum left, which didn't fool anyone as to her motive.

In no way shape or form am I doing damage control for anyone, nor do I have ulterior motives or come to this board to feel attacked for trying to share information. I did not use Sandy when I scheduled my surgery with Dr. Kelly, but went through a very lovely coordinator through another site who has to deal with Sandy because Dr. Kelly is really part of Sandy's main group. I had a relationship with my coordinator and not Sandy and would have preferred having my coordinator give me the bad news directly, but Sandy contacted me when I ended up being told not once, but twice that the owner backed out on allowing Dr. Kelly work there. I, personally, don't know Sandy from Adam, but can say that I'm not comfortable with what I do know. However, I'm entitled to post what I want just as you're entitled to defend your surgeon. I didn't go to a fancy, new hospital to have my surgery with the new doctor, I went to INT which is an older facility but full service. Unfortunately, since my doctor only comes to TJ one week out of the month, he only goes to one hospital so that he's not traveling all over the place to take care of the patients.

As far as coordinators not helping you around Mexico, I'm not sure if that's the experience of most, but I was very pleased with my new doctor of choice as they had the US facilitator/owner as well as a US coordinator in the hospital who helped show my husband some great places to eat and ran interference for nurses when they did not understand English.

My intent to post here was because I thought it would help to hear what I was told. Never in a million years did I think I would end up on the receiving line of mean posts. In the end, it's up to everyone to make their own decisions, do their own research, and if they want, call the hospitals directly to confirm information that users have posted on this board. That being said, I will be respectful and not post again on this topic.

[Hawaii50 4]

This is indeed a disgruntled coordinator war, the orginal post as well as the gossip is extremely offensive! I agree with Kelly, if you don't have first hand experience with Dr Kelly as your surgeon, you have no place to fuel the fire.

With that said, my exerience with Dr Kelly (and Trish) was stellar! My pre-op, the surgery and post op have all been very positive experiences, I wouldn't change anything.

[Kimmes 38]

Ladies and Gentlemen

I think we all agree to disagree.... on the coordinators that is. But we all agree Dr Kelly is a fine surgeon!

I personally would ask to speak to Dr Kelly and get his take on the entire situation if I was pre-op. I am post op and can only speak from my personal experience - I would not change a thing. I worked directly with Dr Kelly and Trish and had an amazing experience.

Stop the "he said, she said" and go directly to Dr Kelly if you want the truth.