Mexico ?

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I have been reading and researching a lot about Dr Lopez. From what I see he is highly qualified and has a tremendous amount of experience and credentials. Though I haven't decided who I am going to have surgery with he is high on my list. I don't know exact number but I read somewhere that Dr Lopez has been doing surgerys for like 10 plus years or something. Do you have any proof or reason to not go with him?

What about this Dr Ortiz? Is he good, don't know much about him. And what about a Dr Rodriguez? In Juarez I believe or something. Anybody???

Of the three, I would suggest Ortiz or Rodriguez.

Just personal preference.

Please see the link in my sig.

[BabyGotBack 0]

I had my band done by Dr. Ortiz and was very happy with all.

I also researched him and my friend was banded by him and her family physician and trusted family friend of many years ( in Mexico) assisted.

Dr. Ortiz also has 2 other doctors on staff who do the fills. Dr. Martinez has done my 3 fills and the experience was very good.

I think the bottom line is, no doctor is going to be "perfect" in any state or country. There are always going to be some type of percentage for complications.

I was just reading today, very sad news, of how Kanye West's (singer) mom died today due to complications of a cosmetic procedure here in the US.

We live in an imperfect world and nothing is 100%

There are people on this board who have been here a long time (you can see by the number of posts written by them and the interaction they have carried with other LBT members for a year or more) that they have a sincere concern for people and are here for support.

Not too many of us are here for bashing and getting into these "cat fights".

These doctors are not gods, so why does everyone get so defensive about facts? Facts are facts.

Now, if someone posts 1 time or a few times and every post is just slamming and arguing, then I would raise my eyebrow and wonder.

[legallyblonde2 0]

As I write this I think, "why do I even try?" However, I just want to add my 2 cents. AGAIN.

1. Dr Lopez almost killed me and Dr Billy saved me. I am not the only one but I will respect their privacy. They dont post here anymore due to all the negitivity following their heart felt comments. So sad. The ladies I speak of were some of the pioneers of this site and so much fun to interact with. I miss them.

2. How can anyone say that they have truly TRULY researched Lopez and come out with anything less than true fright and horror? Google the man for crying out loud! Look outside of just this message board.

Contact someone personally who has had experience with him and talk with them privately. I used to guard my privacy due to my job but have made the choice to come out of the closet and I will personally speak to anyone who wants to talk. Unless you seem scary and unbalanced...then no thanks.

Christine:faint:

[BabyGotBack 0]

We should all be free to write about our experiences without being afraid of being harrassed.

No one should call anyone else a liar either just because they don't like what someone else says about a doctor.

If someone had a bad experience with a doctor, then they should be able to openly talk about it.

No one should have to leave this community just because some people are NUTS!!!!

[NM Sunshine 1]

The more I read about the lap Band complications, the more confusing it all gets. As for the MX docs, certain names come up an awful lot while others come up rarely. I guess the best way to choose a doc is to read what people say about their doc after surgery and what they say 6 months to years down the road.

To top all this off, I have been hearing more and more about patient co-ordinators that pretend to be one of us and say all sorts of good stuff about their doc that may be completely untrue and say real bad stuff about other docs that may also be a total lie.

It's all confusing. Makes my head spin.

[BabyGotBack 0]

The more I read about the lap Band complications, the more confusing it all gets. As for the MX docs, certain names come up an awful lot while others come up rarely. I guess the best way to choose a doc is to read what people say about their doc after surgery and what they say 6 months to years down the road.

To top all this off, I have been hearing more and more about patient co-ordinators that pretend to be one of us and say all sorts of good stuff about their doc that may be completely untrue and say real bad stuff about other docs that may also be a total lie.

It's all confusing. Makes my head spin.

Thats true. I think that for the most part, we are a pretty tight nit support group. It isn't too hard to spot people that are not here for the right reasons.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

As I write this I think, "why do I even try?" However, I just want to add my 2 cents. AGAIN.

1. Dr Lopez almost killed me and Dr Billy saved me. I am not the only one but I will respect their privacy. They dont post here anymore due to all the negitivity following their heart felt comments. So sad. The ladies I speak of were some of the pioneers of this site and so much fun to interact with. I miss them.

It's rough, there are two docs that I know of that are absolute horrors. Their infection rates, placing bands wrong, patients losing their bands... it's horrible. But any of their patients (and coordinators) will slam dunk anyone that points out the facts.

I'm not much on believing individual stories (not referring to you, but a couple of newbie posters slamming doctors recently instead) but I do look at the whole picture. The stats that come directly from the doc's office. If they say their stats are X% and that is a high percentage, that is a concern. If a whole bunch of people are saying the same thing about the same doc, then I pay attention.

We've had a couple of people come lately, newbie posters, one post each, absolutely trashing two different docs. Why should anyone believe it? You get some doc with a gazillion bands under his belt, fantastic stats, excellent history, what are we to do? As patients believe the one out of 4000 or the other 3999?

I also look at the overall picture when it comes to aftercare, how much time does the surgeon stay in OR during surgery vs. having the asst. do the bulk of surgery, all kinds of issues have to be taken into consideration.

My own doc had a patient who had bypass and less than 24 hours after surgery his wife decided to sneak in Mickey D's for him to eat. Well, he ripped out staples, got a leak, and an infection. The doc took him back to OR and fixed it. Didn't even charge the patient for the additional surgery or hospital days. Five days AFTER the leak his wife requested he do revision surgery on her. Failed bypass to band.

She was running around posting on message boards what a horrible doc my doc is because her husband got an infection. Well, she didn't tell the rest of the story. She didn't tell anyone about Mickey D's, she didn't tell anyone that he reoperated and didn't charge the idiot a dime, she didn't tell anyone that she asked him to do her own revision AFTER her husband was reoperated on. So to hear her tell the story it sounds bad. I was in Mexicali that day and my friend and I met these people. Her husband told me the whole story and his wife was being so obnoxious that he was even apologizing for her behaviors and they hadn't even left the hospital.

When these patients go telling their bits and pieces of the story the doc cannot possibly come and defend himself telling the rest of the story.

So that's why I think it is important to look at the whole picture and not the individual stories people come up with. Some folks are amazingly good at not taking responsibility for their own actions. When people post these single posts trashing doctors and others go around copying and pasting them to other threads, it's obvious the intent of the people reposting this trash.

Anyway... I got off on a tangent. My point is that you are right, you get some idiot doc and if you dare to tell the truth about them you are slam dunked. It's not stopping me though. I'll tell what I know about docs and if people don't like it, I don't care. They can continue creating fake IDs and chasing me around like little yappings dogs attached to my ankle. I'm doing what is right. Period.

[jenn.ifer 0]

That is the million doller question on here isn't it. Everyone is going to feel one way or another, so you have to go through all the posts and make a decision.

I banded with Dr.Joya in porta varata, Mexico for two reasons, he had no neg feed back anywhere on the internet, here or other sites and he was the cheepest, not to mention awesome credentials. It wasn't all about the money but it kinda was. I found three docs I could afford and looked into all three, Dr Joya came up with no bad feed back and was the lowest price. I had a great experience and would suggest him to anyone, infact I think my mom is going next month.

Does that help?

jmej

Hey, how much was the cost of surgery. I heard from Dr. Kuri's office saying $7500 not inc airfare. That seemed pretty reasonable. This is what they emailed me regarding fees:

The price of this all inclusive package is $7,500.00 and includes the following:

• All Pre Operative Testing: History and Physical Exams; blood analysis; and EKG.
  
• All related surgical costs: Surgeons; Anesthesia; Equipment, Hospital Stay; Nursing Care; etc.
  
• Two night stay in a patient suite at the Hospital Angeles
  
• Two night stay at the Palacio Azteca hotel in close proximity to the hospital
  
• Free Ground transportation to and from the hospital from the San Diego Airport or Border
  
• Free Fills for Life! ($95.00 fee for the required fluoroscopy is charged by, and paid directly to, Hospital Angeles, fee subject to change by the facility)

[bradnbridge 0]

I'm scheduled with Dr Aceves December 29. How was your experience? Anything I need to know?

[Fathead 0]

I was banded by Dr.Lopez and he is a very competent surgeon. His follow up is terrible but from what everyone else says that is common. The Angels Hospital facility is awesome. I have never been in such a clean and modern hospital. While I was there I met Dr. Kuri and he seemed to be a very nice person and the people that had their surgery from him have had many nice things to say about him.

There are quite a few good Drs in Mexico but I can only speak for my own. I would recommend Dr. Lopez if you have no need for follow up. I would also have no problem recommending Dr. Kuri based on conversations I have had with other people.

[snowbird 2]

I haven't ever posted here before and I am a patient of Dr Ortiz. Hope that doesn't mean everyone will think I am a fraud! I was banded October 10 in Tijuana, along with my husband. My daughter was banded by Dr Ortiz in October 2006. All three of us have been very happy with the experience and would recommend Dr Ortiz without hesitation. My daughter has lost 109 lb since her surgery, and my husband and I have lost around 20 each since October 10.

The surgery takes less than an hour, and he has several surgeons assisting him, so I do not think five patients a day is excessive. You arrive the day before the surgery and meet with his cardiologist and nutritionist, and all three of us talked to Dr Ortiz personally. We also spoke with his assisting surgeon and the anaesthesiologist. We spent the night at the clinic and the following night at the nearby hotel, which was included in the price of the surgery, so we were near the clinic in case of any emergency for almost 48 hours after surgery.

Since Dr Ortiz gave us his personal cell phone number to call if we needed anything, I don't see any reason for him to call me after I returned home. I'm a big girl (in all senses of the word!) and I can call if I have a question or problem.

Every surgeon in the US or in Mexico probably has patients who were unhappy with him due to a problem they encountered or sometimes just a personality clash. Sometimes the unhappiness has a real basis in fact, and sometimes it doesn't. Dr Ortiz is well known, knew of several surgeons in my home area of Washington State that he had trained, and never gave any indication of being hurried or uncaring. I found the entire experience in his clinic much better than any US hospital stay I have been through. I have been reading through some of the post op questions and problems that people have encountered on this board, and I can say that the three of us have had no such problems.

I have seen very few postings on his own website that are uncomplimentary, but I have seen them. I believe his forum is open to all opinions and have not seen any evidence of editing out uncomplimentary posts. I know several of the patients posting there either from my daughter's surgery, my own, or from her support group up in Washington. I know these are real people, because I have met them or she has.

We always have to be careful of what we read on the Internet because it is open to anyone, and it is easy to manipulate what you see and read. Let the reader beware and do your homework, but be cautious about buying into any flaming posts immediately without supporting information! The biggest problem with getting surgery in Mexico is follow up care due to the distances involved, regardless of the surgeon. We each have to weigh the pluses and minuses of getting surgery there. I know that I was impressed enough with Dr Ortiz's clinic and with the doctor himself after accompanying my daughter there last year, that my husband and I went to him in October even though we had insurance that would pay for the surgery in the US. However, the fact that we live in Arizona within driving distance of the clinic for follow up care also factored into our decision.

My email address is candlowens@hotmail.com if anyone wants to verify I am a real person. You can also see my posts under the same login name, snowbird, on the Obesity Control Center forum.

[snowbird 2]

By the way, the name "Vicky" sounded familiar, so I did a little search through Dr Ortiz's forum and found her original post there. She did have some serious complications from what she said on that forum shortly after her surgery. if you want to check it out, here is the link:

Banded 10/1....mostly good-- some not so much.. - Lap Band Forum

[kirajh 0]

Hi Snowbird

Glad you made it over here. It is a good bunch here. I was also banded by Dr. O also and I have to agree with everything you said here. I just wish it weren't so expensive to fly to San Diego so I could go back for my fills.

Kari

7-16-07

Dr. Ortiz TJ

down 52 pounds

lots to go

[snowbird 2]

Where are you flying from? We can drive from our home to the border in San Ysidro in about 5 hours, so by the time you figure in the drive to and from the airport, the waiting time and the flight delays, it's easier and often faster to drive than fly. Our first fill is November 29; we're actually going to camp outside of San Diego for a few days to make sure we are okay. I've heard too many stories about too tight/not enough so we thought we would hang around there for a while.

[NM Sunshine 1]

Kirajh I just bought a ticket to San Diego today. It was only $98 not counting taxes. It was a really good price. Leaving Dec.4 for a fill.:hungry:

BabyGot

WOW you are doing great..145!!

Below is a quote. I am absolutely amazed that someone would do what this wife did. She wanted him to fail. She may have wanted to kill him. Hopefully the guy smartens up and leaves her. She will sabatage all his weight loss efferts.

:thinkMy own doc had a patient who had bypass and less than 24 hours after surgery his wife decided to sneak in Mickey D's for him to eat. Well, he ripped out staples, got a leak, and an infection. The doc took him back to OR and fixed it. Didn't even charge the patient for the additional surgery or hospital days. Five days AFTER the leak his wife requested he do revision surgery on her. Failed bypass to band.