Dr. Kelly No Longer Working With Alightme- Safety Concerns Or Simply Business Issues?

[sirensiren 67]

After having done over 2 years of research on bariatric surgery, and months worth on my surgeon options- I found myself very impressed with Dr. Ramos Kelly's qualifications and experience. I verified all the information on his work experience and education (this is essential, as anyone can claim a great professional track record on the internet!). My surgery went great, the staff at his hospital checked on me virtually every hour and were extremely detailed. Beyond all that, I felt cared about. Dr. Kelly visited me at the hotel with his wife and Sara (personal coordinator) early because I was doing great and wanted to take off a day early.

I was happy to refer a good friend who confided her desire to have WLS, I'm so glad my research and experience could allow my friend to have the best WLS ever (in my opinion!) with an extremely skilled surgeon.

A couple weeks ago, ALM called her up and told her that after much deliberation and meeting, that they decided they would no longer be coordinating for Dr. Kelly. Normally, a professional break up wouldn't be alarming- these relationships can go sour all the time, and clearly from some of the things we see on the board, coordinators and coordination services can get quite competitive to downright nasty (not accusing ALM or anyone in particular of that). I'll just say, the honesty track record with coordination services does not seem to always be spotless.

The concerning part is that they indicated their choice to no longer work with Dr. Kelly was due to a safety/practice issue. This struck me as odd- they continued to work with him after his first lost patient in August of 2011, and some of their other Dr.'s they coordinate for don't have the experience or positive track record Dr. Kelly does. I have been operated on by Dr. Kelly merely 2 months ago myself, and though my recovery has gone better than anticipated, I am very concerned if there is something unsafe about the surgery that was done on my new stomach.

They urged my friend to book with a different surgeon with them, but told her she had the option of getting her deposit back if she chose to stay with Dr. Kelly, but that they would not be able to book her with him in good conscience due to an undisclosed safety concern. After talking to me, I told her I didn't want her to wonder what (if any) the safety concern was, and I thought it would be wise to go with one of there other surgeons (Dr. Garcia is who she chose, seems to be a great choice).

Obviously, it can deeply cut into a coordinators business to no longer coordinate for one of your most popular surgeons (dare I say, Dr. Kelly may be the most popular!), I would assume to cut into the $ of your business during this economy, the safety concerns must be quite significant, or the relationship went extremely sour somehow.

I'd like answers. I was operated on by Dr. Kelly not too long ago, and I hope "safety concerns" are merely just something they have chosen to say to assure that they keep the patients they've already booked with him to move to a different surgeon of theirs. I don't want to worry.

My friend pressed them for information, but they made it pretty clear they could only say it was a safety concern and that they wanted to encourage her to book with another surgeon.

My gut tells me my surgery went fine, that Dr. Kelly is a good person and extremely skilled- we have so many happy patients that post on here as it is. At the same time, I don't think a major coordinator like ALM would mislead patients, this would be a detriment to their business as so many of their patients chat on boards like this.

[sirensiren 67]

**To be clear, my topic says "Alightme", I meant A Lighter Me, which are primarily managed by Sandy and Linda**

[BarbieB 18]

I was told the same thing by another booking agency. I also plan on going with Dr. Garcia. It is disconcerting to hear things through a forum when most of us come here for advice and reassurance to have the surgery especially in places like Mexico it kind of makes you second guess whether or not to go down there. I am glad everything went well for you and I hope that it does for your friend I have a good feeling about Dr. Garcia from what I have heard and read. It is hard to believe what is true and what is false from alot of posts on here.

[HBskinnygirl 8]

I emailed several coordinators too and was told they no longer work with Dr Kelly. They never mentioned safety issues. From all the boards I have visited it appears to be business related as with all the bad mouthing between coordinators. I booked directly with Dr Kelly and have no concerns. I've spoken to him on the phone several times. He didn't even require a deposit as he said I could bring him the money on the day of surgery. I have surgery this Wednesday, January 25th. I've been reviewing these boards for a while but never responded until this week looking for surgery buddies. There is so many scandulous posts, so yes....it's hard to believe everything you read. I would much rather refer someone to a surgeon that I already used instead of referring her to someone else based on what you read.

[Delovelly 3]

I think a lighter me is upset because Dr. Kelly no longer wants to use them and he is booking his own surgeries and still uses Trish as well to book surgeries.

[Afro_Cyster 74]

I just want to say that I love Dr. Kelly and Trish + her team. They still contact me every other week. I had surgery at florence. I'm not going to advocate in this topic, so if you want to know about my experience with Dr. Kelly, Trish and her team, and the fear other coordinators put in me -- inbox me.

[Andrea8967 25]

SirenSiren:

I just returned from Mexico on Sunday night after having my procedure done with Dr. Kelly. Two weeks prior to my surgery I received a phone call from Sandy at A Lighter Me who said she could not, in good conscience, refer any more patients to Dr. Kelly. That's quite a bomb to drop on a patient about to have surgery! Her conversation was very similiar to the one you heard only she told me he had knicked a couple of patients. Really? Where are these patients? Why hasn't anyone come forward to tell the story? If I had had a terrible experience after my surgery you can bet I'd be back on this forum to warn others. I wouldn't just sit idly by while he did damage to another patients. So I told her I needed time to digest what she was trying to tell me and asked for a refund, which I received the next day. I searched for and obtained Dr. Kelly's direct line and called him and re-scheduled my surgery directly with him. I am one week post-op and I couldn't be happier. Here's why:

Dr. Kelly uses florence Hospital and the Lucerna Hotel. A Lighter Me books you at Mi hospital and Mi Pueblo Amigo. Two HUGE differences. Granted, the hospital is old, but it's clean and the nurses are kind, careful, clean and caring. Mi Pueblo Amigo is a smoke-filled stinky casino just over the border - and I mean immediately over. The Lucerna was wonderful. Clean rooms, excellent restaurant, very accommodating staff. Just a very nice experience. I met another forum pal who had her surgery just 2 hours prior to mine. We had rooms at the hospital and at the hotel across from each other. She is also doing extremely well post-op - we email each other three times a day. We came to the same conclusion when comparing notes: Dr. Kelly keeps his patients well hydrated for two and a half days. We were given four things in our IV's twice a day: a pain killer, an antibiotic and two other things I can't remember. Other docs do not. Patients complaining of nausea and pain are probably in that state because they did not receive the same treatment that we got from Dr. Kelly. He knows what he's doing. You can read these forums all day and all night, but you're going to wind up with the same conclusion: Dr. Kelly is one of the best. Even Dr. Alvarez doesn't keep his patients two days in the hospital I don't think. There are several youtube videos of his patients and I could be wrong, but I thought they showed the patients leaving after only 1 1/2 days. He's another doctor I'd go to though.

Sandy tried to pursuade me to use Dr. Garcia or Dr. Zapata. Evidently she had a falling out with Dr. Kelly. I didn't ask him what happened, nor do I care. But it seems to be getting out of hand. Even my driver on the way home said he had heard about it.

So take what A Lighter Me is telling you and just disregard it. The coordinators are very competitive. If you prefer to use a coordinator - I'd use Trish. My friend booked thru her and was very happy with her. I met her and she even assisted me.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions and I'd be more than happy to answer them for you.

Dr. Kelly is a true professional. I had zero pain, zero nausea and zero gas.

Andrea

[mwlj_2010 1]

Dr Kelly is doing his own booking now and not using A Lighter Me anymore...this of course ticks them off and IMHO, they suck for trying to destroy a GREAT doctor for their own financial gain. Shame on you A Lighter Me!!!

[sirensiren 67]

I wrote this post before I heard back from Sandy at A Lighter Me, she called me within an hour of my e-mail and was very forthright with what information she could give me.

I had a positive experience from beginning to end with Dr. Kelly, my surgery was great and I was taken care of.

I can tell you though, there are some (verified- not coordinator claims) things I've found out about Dr. Kelly recently that would make me personally proceed with a lot of caution and do my research. I love Dr. Kelly, and my experience was great- some of the reasons ALM and other coordinators are not working with him may be trivial business issues, hearsay etc. but some things are genuine concerns regarding things that would concern a patient on his table.

Ultimately, the truth always comes to light, especially when everything is virtually permanent and traceable on the internet. I still stand by the only experience I can truly verify, which is my own good one merely 2 months ago.

Things are rarely black and white in these situations- it's unlikely there's a perfectly honest side, and a purely dishonest side going on here. I don't trust anyone trying to sell me anything- but if a coordinator (be it Trish, Sandy or any other one we talk about on here) outright lied about something major to patients, it's going to take a huge amount of credibility away from their business.

Dr. Kelly uses florence Hospital and the Lucerna Hotel. A Lighter Me books you at Mi hospital and Mi Pueblo Amigo. Two HUGE differences. Granted, the hospital is old, but it's clean and the nurses are kind, careful, clean and caring. Mi Pueblo Amigo is a smoke-filled stinky casino just over the border - and I mean immediately over. The Lucerna was wonderful.

I actually used ALM and had my surgery at Florence Hospital and stayed at Lucerna- so this isn't quite true- ALM gave me options back in November, I did my research and went with Florence/Lucerna. Gorgeous hotel!

[Andrea8967 25]

I wrote this post before I heard back from Sandy at A Lighter Me, she called me within an hour of my e-mail and was very forthright with what information she could give me.

I had a positive experience from beginning to end with Dr. Kelly, my surgery was great and I was taken care of.

I can tell you though, there are some (verified- not coordinator claims) things I've found out about Dr. Kelly recently that would make me personally proceed with a lot of caution and do my research. I love Dr. Kelly, and my experience was great- some of the reasons ALM and other coordinators are not working with him may be trivial business issues, hearsay etc. but some things are genuine concerns regarding things that would concern a patient on his table.

Ultimately, the truth always comes to light, especially when everything is virtually permanent and traceable on the internet. I still stand by the only experience I can truly verify, which is my own good one merely 2 months ago.

Things are rarely black and white in these situations- it's unlikely there's a perfectly honest side, and a purely dishonest side going on here. I don't trust anyone trying to sell me anything- but if a coordinator (be it Trish, Sandy or any other one we talk about on here) outright lied about something major to patients, it's going to take a huge amount of credibility away from their business.

I actually used ALM and had my surgery at florence Hospital and stayed at Lucerna- so this isn't quite true- ALM gave me options back in November, I did my research and went with Florence/Lucerna. Gorgeous hotel!

I guess they must have changed since November. When I booked in late Dec. I wasn't given any options. That's why I was glad when I decided to book directly with Dr. Kelly.

[Andrea8967 25]

Can you share with us what you were able to verify regarding the safety of Dr. Kelly's patients? And how were you able to verify the truth? The way I look at it is this: surgery is ALWAYS risky. Alot of things go wrong here in the US as well as in MX. I took into consideration the number of procedures he did versus the number of incidents that we think we know about. I've heard of about 3. The death of that girl in June last year seems true, and then one of his coordinators told us about two other things. We have to research as much as we can and then hope to god we make an intelligent choice. I felt safe with Dr. Kelly because he doesn't perform 6 surgeries a day. His credentials, as far as I could tell, seemed on the up and up.

I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that accidents happen. My friend is hobbling arroung for life because of a surgical mishap in one of the best hospitals in South Florida. Then sued the surgical team for malpractice using a top notch legal firm and lost his case. He can barely walk and can't even afford to take care of himself. It happens.

I'm not arguing with you. But I also wouldn't switch from Dr. Kelly to Dr. Garcia. Based on what I've read and seen on these forums. Has your friend considered Dr. Alvarez??

[ShoeLover 141]

Can you share with us what you were able to verify regarding the safety of Dr. Kelly's patients? And how were you able to verify the truth? The way I look at it is this: surgery is ALWAYS risky. Alot of things go wrong here in the US as well as in MX. I took into consideration the number of procedures he did versus the number of incidents that we think we know about. I've heard of about 3. The death of that girl in June last year seems true, and then one of his coordinators told us about two other things. We have to research as much as we can and then hope to god we make an intelligent choice. I felt safe with Dr. Kelly because he doesn't perform 6 surgeries a day. His credentials, as far as I could tell, seemed on the up and up.

I'm not defending him, I'm just saying that accidents happen. My friend is hobbling arroung for life because of a surgical mishap in one of the best hospitals in South Florida. Then sued the surgical team for malpractice using a top notch legal firm and lost his case. He can barely walk and can't even afford to take care of himself. It happens.

I'm not arguing with you. But I also wouldn't switch from Dr. Kelly to Dr. Garcia. Based on what I've read and seen on these forums. Has your friend considered Dr. Alvarez??

Could you please tell me specifically what you have read or seen on this board that led you to believe that Dr. Garcia is not a good choice? I personally have been all up and through this forum and I have yet to read or see anything that indicates that he is not a good surgeon.

[Mike0604 5]

Sleeved by dr Kelly on Jan 11th 2012 no problems 2 weeks out.

[sirensiren 67]

Can you share with us what you were able to verify regarding the safety of Dr. Kelly's patients? And how were you able to verify the truth?

My experience with Dr. Kelly was great like yours, but when my friend was encouraged to cancel, I was confused and honestly pissed off at ALM, but also freaking out about the implication of "safety issues", considering I was recently sleeved by him.

The verified information that concerned me was provided over the phone by a real patient with a trackable history on this site. I asked this person to call me, the phone number was not from any where near where the coordinators are based out of, and the conversation details checked out in terms of my experience. It's not impossible people with agendas go to great lengths to smear someone's name, but I just really don't feel that is the case.

Regardless, I had a great experience with Dr. Kelly as do many patients. There is no such thing as a perfect surgeon, what they do is so intricate and with as many patients as they see, I think every doctor has a few issues throughout their career. If there's validity to any real safety concerns, it will come to light. If it's false, it will die off with every thing else in the rumor mill.

[Andrea8967 25]

SirenSiren:

So after all the info you've gleaned regarding the safety of Dr. Kelly, do you feel that you or I may be at risk? Or are you saying that something he may be doing or leaving out while operating is what's troubling you? If you wouldn't mind, I'd be happy to give you my email address so we can discuss further? I'm only interested at this point in my own safety. I'm only 1 week out. Thanks.