Got Rumors?

[Vickums 0]

I have a really silly question, so humor me, folks, willya? I think it's all well and good that Larry is so supportive and good about getting back to you. But my question is this: Is the information Larry's getting based on what the Doc is reporting? In other words, are surgeons on their honor to report these complications? And if they're not (which it sure sounds like is possible, if not probably, in this case) then how does Inamed truly know what the complication rate is??? What incentive does a doctor have to report complications, if that information is going to translate into fewer referrals from Inamed?

Okay so it's more than one question. Sorry about that. But as much as I'd like to rely on a surgeon's better nature to be honest in reporting, in this case -- given the poor after care (and Inamed's knowledge of such and their lack of ability to do anything about it) -- I wouldn't believe that he truly had a 1% erosion rate. Besides, if he's not staying in touch with his patients post banding, how the heck would he know???

The whole thing makes my head spin...

[DeLarla 22]

Vick, good question, and I have part of the answer. NO, doctors do not always report problems. I know this firsthand since many months ago I reported some things to Inamed that they weren't aware of. They did tell me that Dr. Kuri is excellent at reporting all problems - not just erosions - but port infections, ports flipping, port revisions, erosions, rejections, etc. The only way Inamed can track problems is if they get the information. I posted a long time ago, and Penni, Michelle and others have repeated posts that it's our responsiblity to contact Inamed with every single problem instead of relying on the doctors. Inamed was unaware of my problems till I contacted them, but now I'm probably a household word to them! I know that Penni reported her own problem, too. Spread the word - ANYONE HAVING THE SLIGHTEST PROBLEM, PLEASE CONTACT INAMED. This is the only way advances can be made, research can be completed, data can be compiled, etc. Good question, you get a gold star!

Larry was trying to explain how Inamed can't always take responsibity or know everything a surgeon is doing. He compared the band to a tool we might by at Home Depo. Something like if we buy a Black and Decker tool at Home Depo, we won't go to Black and Decker if we have a problem, but instead we'd go to Home Depot where we purchased it. It wasn't the best analogy, but unfortunately, I doubt Black and Decker would give a damn if my electric saw stopped working - they'd tell me to bring it back to Home Depot. However, if my Black and Decker power saw broke in pieces and injured me, you better believe I'd have Black and Decker on the phone begging me to repair my injuries (which is what I kinda told Larry.)

[Vickums 0]

I think it's a good analogy, and I'll definitely spread the word. I know that there's a goon -- I mean competent physician (hah!) -- who's done some bands. I was thinking about calling Inamed to find out what his rep is. I'm concerned because someone was on the Ak bandster list who said she had NO restriction -- ZERO -- after numerous fills. How can that even happen??? And the goon --- erm, doc -- said that was perfectly okay. So now this poor woman is going to pay over $1000 for a liquid fast at a local weight loss joint. After having the band. Am I the only person who thinks this is insane??? But I wonder now, if I call Inamed, will they really be able to tell me this doc's rate of problems if he, himself, isn't reporting them?

'tis a quandry...

(And no, I'm not letting a doc who's done only 15 bands do one on me. Nuh uh. Heck no. I'm just not up for being someone's guinea pig).

[DeLarla 22]

Inamed employees are excellent at remaining politically correct. They are very careful about not saying too much, while remaining informative. They won't tarnish a doctor's name (in my opinion) but they may say things to sway you to a good doc - it's a potluck, ya never know what you're gonna get.

As far as someone having no restriction, that's all too common for a variety of reasons. Number one is erosion, meaning if someone suddenly has no restriction, there's a chance their band has eroded. But less drastic could be that many doctors "sneak up" on restriction. They only give small fills, which is something Inamed recommends. A small fill might not feel like anything. So the doc keeps giving these small fills till restriction is achieved. Another reason is maybe they punctured her tube with the fill needle. Fill Fluid can leak out. She should have an Upper GI and/or an Endoscope, or better yet, seek a 2nd opinion. I've learned to get as many opinions as possible - the winning doctor is the one who agrees with what someone else already told me!

[La_madam 20]

Vicky..I agree with Lisa

I highly doubt they will tell you he is a goon.

When I was researching the band I did email Inamed and got a good report on Dr. Ortiz but I'm sure I would of gotten it on any one of their proctoring Doctors. They are not going to make themselves look bad.

As far as this woman on the other board..Has she had the tests done to see if there is erosion or a leak in her tubing? Those are both reasons for no restriction if she has had numerous fills. Does she have the Inamed band? There are other bands that are larger and hold more saline then the Inamed band and some have said it takes longer to get the proper restriction.

[Zoe 6]

I should be working, but instead I'm lurking, grateful that I didn't choose Dr. Lopez; even the new, supposedly improved version surely must have his patients (even the currently satisfied ones) worrying if or when they're going to have problems.

About Inamed's Black and Decker analogy: DeLarla's right. Yeah, if you wanted to exchange or replace the tool, you'd go to Home Depot. But it's Black & Decker, not the store, that issues the warranty on its products. The analogy can only go so far, since Home Depot is just a place where you pick up the tool. I'd think a manufacturer of any equipment who conferred "authorized installer" status on certain people would want to know if one of those installers routinely had customer complaints, not to mention lawsuits, because its equipment caused serious damage.

Any prospective bandster may give Margret the benefit of the doubt, but should take heed of the many serious, documented complaints that Lopez has left unanswered. You'd think the least he could do is call up his injured patients and apologize. But, malpractice insurance and liability issues being what they are, I doubt he'll publicly acknowledge that he was at fault. Even if he wakes up in the middle of the night regretting his mistakes, and gives an earful to his confessor on a regular basis, he's probably been advised by legal counsel to admit nothing. But would it kill him just to call or send a routine e-mail to ask how his patients are doing?

[DeLarla 22]

"I highly doubt they will tell you he is a goon." Michelle, my eggroll almost shot out of my nose with that one.

Zoe, I'm in total agreement that Black and Decker would be 100% responsible if the product caused injury. But just like going to the Band doctor first, you'd have to jump through hoops with Home Depot's upper management, customer service, etc., to make sure it's the product, not the user, right? Heck, did that make an ounce of sense? If my Black and Decker electric drill hurt me, I'd go straight to Black and Decker. But if it simply stopped working, I'd go to Home Depot. All depends, I guess.

This whole Black n' Decker analogy makes me laugh when I think of Rosie O'Donnel's stand-up when she refers to Madonna's "vibrator by Black n' Decker." Anyone remember that?

[cattigerlily 0]

FYI Things are not what they seem. Larry at INAMED and Lopez are VERY good friends! Take what Larry says with a grain of salt. If you do a little checking, you can find this out.

[bushbaby 8]

I am soooooo sorry for all the drama and pain all of you are going through... and I ditto what the previous person said I am glad I did not have the misfortune to use that DR.

[DeLarla 22]

Larry admitted being really good friends with not only Lopez, but other popular band doctors as well. It's like a great big boys' club - they all seem to know each other intimately. So far I've heard both good and bad about most of the surgeons, and all from reliable sources. I take EVERYTHING in Bandland with a grain of salt. It's so hard knowing who to trust. I feel like I'm living in a spin-off from the Stepford Wives or a Stephen King novel. Is this all real?

[La_madam 20]

I found this post from Mexican bandsters very interesting and it was just posted on Oct 31 2004

From: "a24klady_49" <lyndsay55@y...>

Date: Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:26 pm

Subject: Re: Port infections - lopez

When I was researching getting banded, my doctor talked directly with

the Inamed doctor's representative and was told that Dr Lopez has a

much higher rate of infections than other Mexican band doctors, and

that they knew of other infections he had not reported, as required.

Debbie, it sometimes takes much longer than only a few weeks for

infections to develop as they brew and fester inside. Lyn

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe Larry is good friend with Lopez but I do not care who you ask from Inamed..it is my opinion that if these doctors are proctoring for Inamed, NO one from Inamed is going to tel you anything bad about any of them, its their reputation at stake too.

I was thinking of starting a thread and doing a survey..Asking all of you to post your surgery date, your surgeon and ANY problems you have had with your band and then sending it to Inamed What do you think? This way if people are not reporting it atleast we have some idea of lettingthem know what is going on and with what patients and what doctors.

[La_madam 20]

Here is another post from Mexicanbandsters from a woman dated the same day Oct 31st 2004

From: "annasong43" <annasong43@y...>

Date: Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:53 pm

Subject: Re: Dr. Lopez

Dr Lopez has a lot of port infections. 4 people in our support group

went to him and all got terrible infections that needed the port

removed and replaced later, after months of antibiotics. None of them

has done well after that bad start. They all said he is very nice but

does not speak english. something is wrong down there.

So you see the women here on this board are not the only people having problems with Lopez..It is very hard to believe Lopez's % is so low. Like Lisa said though there is good & bad out there about every doctor it just seems of late that it is all about Lopez. Wonder what Dr. will be next?

[Zoe 6]

I like your idea, Michelle. How about making this less work for you, though, and more work for Inamed? If you post an Inamed e-mail address for reporting, each of us with an Inamed band, whether we've had trouble or not, can write directly to the company, listing our surgeon's name, surgery date, and any complications.

[Penni60 45]

MIchelle: I suggested something similar to Don when I spoke with him and he said something to the effect of well what would I do with the information after I collected it?

My whole opinion after speaking with Don at Inamed boils down to this (and this is MY opinion). They wanna sell the band to as many certified surgeons as possible. I suggested they devise a questionnaire from Inamed specifically speaking to aftercare issues and include any complications the patient has experienced post surgery. This questionnaire would have the surgery date, place, and surgeons name. Don said well how would we get the questionnaires to the patients? I said give it to all the Docs that place Inamed bands. The good docs would distribute it to their patients like Dr. Billy. Then if one person goes on a message board like this one and says Hey did you know Inamed is asking for feedback, get your questionnaire from either your doc or Inamed directly then Inamed would get the ammunition they need about complications or aftercare issues. Don said well yeah that could work. I said what would you do with that info once it started coming in? He said not sure. So even if we give them the info they don't know what to do with it.

Michelle I like the idea of collecting the info and sending it in to Inamed but how about going one step further and sending it to FDA as well. Or the Bariatric Board of Surgeons, Or the American Medical Association.

One other thing, Don Mills told me that Mexico Doctors are not required nor encouraged to carry Malpractice Insurance so there is no incentive for them to get it right. Another thing I asked Don was why doesn't Inamed contact the facilities where the surgeons are doing the surgeries and speak to the Director of the Hospital about the complications, Don said they do. I said have you contacted all the facilities where Lopez has worked he said well the problem there is that Lopez most likely OWNS part of the facility. So there ya go. Politics again.

I asked him if there was anything we as the consumer of Inamed's product could do as a group to make Inamed more responsible in making sure aftercare and complications were addressed? He said what are you referring to. I said what if a bunch of us filed a class action law suit against Inamed would that shake you up enough to make sure the aftercare and complications were addressed. He said he couldn't comment on litigation issues.

Vicky: Inamed does not send referrals. There is NO incentive for the doctors to report complications nor is there incentives to report good outcomes either. All Inamed is concerned about at this point is getting the product into the hands of the surgeons to do the procedure. They feel their responsibility ends there. That is my impression from the talks I had with Don Mills. He said it is beyond their scope to tell a Doctor how to run their offices when it comes to aftercare. He said they teach Patient Management in a workshop. This workshop teaches the fills, encourages them to set up support groups, what the projected weight loss should be, all the mechanics of the band. It does not teach (Don Mills words) how to follow up with the patients once they have been banded. They feel that is something the doctor should know. I was floored by this. The "Patient Management" workshop does nothing to address the psychological aspect of the weight loss journey. Only the physical aspect. I said to Don how can you in good conscience treat one without treating the other? How can you teach one and not address the other in your workshop?? He said Inamed did not think it was their responsibility to tell a Doctor how to relate to their patients in regards to this particular product. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

[MeganA 35]

My two cents... I agree with Penni- it's time to let the FDA and the various federal medical boards know about what is going on about INAMED's practices. I wonder if someone would be willing to write a letter and email it everyone who's had problems and they can send it in, too. I'm sure that this would get INAMED's attention.

The way to make it hurt very badly for Dr. Frankenstein....I mean Lopez...is to start getting to his patients before they have surgery from him...hit him in the pocketbook. So- any ideas?

Megan