Just A Comment About Any Surgeons Office

[vdunn87 2]

just wanted to advise people to do research on surgeons before they commit. I committed to a surgeons office only to have the patient co-ordinator mismanage my case. Then when I decide to go through a different surgeons office calls me the day after notifying the first office to harass me. I don't tolerate harassment and I dont think its very professional on her part. Her actions make the surgeon look bad and thats a huge mistake on her part. I'm furious!!!

houston sleevers be warned! Their not always as great as they seem.

*this on no way reflects on the surgeon himself

[vdunn87 2]

Omg not only did one person from the surgeons office call to harass me but two of them called! I HATE DR. CARLOS FERRARI'S OFFICE!!!!!!!!!

[iPrincess 39]

That is very unprofessional. I would have to report them to someone. Sorry you are having to deal with this. Hoping you find a better office.

[Wheetsin 714]

The day after you went to a second office, the second office called the first office and notified them to harass you?

[vdunn87 2]

The day after you went to a second office, the second office called the first office and notified them to harass you?

Noo, I called Dr. Ferrari's office on Tuesday to let them know I was no longer a patient. Also on Tuesday I signed up with a different doctor. I posted a review on google.com about Dr. Ferrari's office. The staff there read the review and decided to confront me. I actually hung up the first time, and they waited 20 min later and had Dr. Ferrari's office manager call and harass me talking about how they did nothing wrong and I should be afraid to go to any other doctor because I'm risking my life in the hands of someone who is not Dr. Ferrari. She never let me speak and when I tried to explain how I felt she just interrupted me and kept saying I basically lost my chance to live through the procedure by not sticking with Dr. Ferrari.

[Wheetsin 714]

Oh that's ridiculous. At first I thought you meant the two offices had communicated with each other about you - which could be illegal. SO I just wanted to make sure I understood before sharing my 2 cents.

I have no idea if this is still going on, but years and years ago my surgeon's office had employees who would read the WLS boards and look for negative comments about the surgeon/practice. Then in support groups they'd "plant" people to ask about message boards, and try to figure out which person was what username. Ridiculous, huh? But fine, whatever you need to do. But then they'd confront people about their online activity during during their office visits, and semi harass them during support groups. Totally unaccepable.

I got a little chummy with two of the ladies and we had a very facetious long-term thread on one of the sites. One of the ladies (happily married with kids) thought the surgeon was handsome. She jokingly referred to him as "Dr. Hottie" on the message boards. That got back to the practice, and the next time she showed up for an office visit she was pulled aside and chastised for not respecting the surgeon's marriage, or family, or her own. We were all like...wha?? Then it became this big drama. I was waiting in the consultation room once and heard the nurse who used to manage patient care outside the door saying, "This is one of the ones who..." and couldn't catch the end. So when she came in, I asked her, "One of the ones who what?" And she wouldn't answer me. For some of the people, it got to where they chose to transfer their aftercare to another surgeon, because they just didn't want to deal with it.

Thankfully those particular staff aren't there anymore, and things seem normal. But the real unfortunate part is that I think he's one of the strongest bariatric surgeons - definitely in my area - but it's hard for things like that not to reflect poorly on the entire practice (including surgeon).

[vdunn87 2]

wow! agreed about it reflecting poorly. The way I see it if anyone ever asks me about his office I'm going to tell them what honestly happened through my end.I'm not slandering them if I'm allowed to give my opinion and honest account to what happened. As far as my referral I'm not going to recommend anyone to him. Scare tactics should be out the window in that situation. Here you have a patient who is already nervous and frustrated by the whole situation and you turn around and say " oh by the way good luck surviving the surgery if you go to another "under qualified" surgeon" Really? I honestly thought they would have more couth than that. How do they even know what this other surgeon is qualified to do? I never gave them the name so they have no clue. Not only that but then I find out they were submitting me for the wrong surgery. They were submitting me for DS when I clearly stated VSG. The irony of it all was last year when I was considering surgery I did not want to go to Dr. F because I didnt feel comfortable. I should have trusted my gut.

[AdeptDreamer 104]

So unprofessional I'm sorry you had to deal with such indiscreet people.

[Izuri 428]

Is there anyone else in the office you could contact to complain? I think that type of behavior is totally uncalled for and they are probably driving away more business - if I was the surgeon or nurses I would be pissed at someone treating my patient that way.

[vdunn87 2]

nope the last person was the office manager. She was telling me when things went wrong I was imagining it. So I imagined them losing my paperwork, wasting over a month before telling me it wasnt there, not taking the time to look through my records to find my weight, lying about whether I can obtain my medical records, etc.. I must have been imagining that they even existed. Geez Maybe this whole world is my imagination. REALLY! I highly doubt that. I would try to contact the doctor but I bet by now they filled his head with negative thoughts about me. Of course before she was done trying to scare me she lied one last time. She told me that they had already sent the appeal to the insurance company. No doubt I called the insurance company after I got off the phone with that wench, only to find out she lied. Good riddence. Luckily the doctor I found now has a great staff. I'll meed him on monday and I hope he's as wonderful as he seems.

[Miriam 50]

Wow, that's really poor. Makes my doctor look great, and I'm not that thrilled with him (but where I am, my options are extremely limited so I made the choice to stick with him for better or for worse). If I were you, I would send the doctor a registered letter with bulleted points about all the issues you've been having. He may never read it, but maybe his staff will actually take note and change their ways (probably being overly optimistic here, but never mind...).

[scaredoftheunknown 95]

I'd do the same. Making sure the Dr. finds out what the staff is doing. He might not know that the office is harassing patients because "they" made a mistake. Good luck. Don't let them get to you. You have done your research and I you will do good.

[Piplula 709]

Wow..gross unprofessionality!!!! Sorry to hear you had a horrible time. No one deserves to be harassed.