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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 23, 2012 10:44:24 GMT -5
I almost put this in the R&R section because I am ready to RANT but then I thought about lurkers who wouldn't see it there and I want people to be aware that we can not rely on every doctor for advice. As the old joke goes "What do you call the person who graduated last in medical school? Doctor." I was visiting my husband at his dry cleaning store in the city and in walks a gorgeous woman with a body to match. The UES is loaded with beautiful women and they don't usually bother to chit chat with riff raff but this one must have had her venti latte quad shot because she was going on and on about who knows what, but then my ears perked up when she started talking about her job. Turns out she is a general laparoscopic surgeon at Mt. Sinai. So I told her that I am preparing to have the DS surgery soon, she asked the typical questions about who would perform the surgery and which hospital. Here's when the conversation took a nose dive. She told me that I need to reconsider the DS, actually her exact words were "Oh no, don't do that!". She said that she has performed "countless" DS revisions due to malnutrition. She told me that the LapBand should be my first WLS. Mind you, I need to lose 300 pounds which is pretty obvious when you are talking to me in person so right away I get it - she's an idiot - but I just had to push it. I told her my reasons for wanting the DS, I told her about all of the research and publications I've read, yadda yadda. So then she tells me that if I'm going to have that type of surgery I should just start with the sleeve and see how that goes. Now I'm about to scream! Normally I would be about to laugh, but this horse shit coming out of a surgeon's mouth infuriated me! I don't want to lose a customer but she's new so her business would not be missed and it sure would feel good to unload on her ignorant ass for perpetuated bullshit but instead I smiled and knodded as I was raised to do, let her finish, and then I told her that my mind was set. That's when she gave me the condescending pity sigh and wished me luck. Now I know that I do not need to bullet point countdown all of grievances with this encounter due to the high level of awareness of the people here but I just have to say a few things: Fist of all, she does "countless" revisions for DS patients yet she was not familiar with my surgeon who is arguable the best bariatric surgeon in this town. She is out of touch with her own cohort. And I believe "countless" is a flat lie, in fact she would be hard pressed to convince me that she ever did ONE DS revision because patients needing DS revisions would most likely go to a DS surgeon and not some entry level surgeon like her. Secondly, "lapband"  - for real? Anyway, none of that is the point. The point here is that she believes what she is saying and is spreading it as if it was factual. Not that I feel all that qualified to do it but I'm thinking of sending her a thorough letter or packet of information, in an attempt to enlighten her, for the sake of Lord knows how many patients and people like me who make the mistake of crossing her path. |
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Post by luckylibrarian on May 23, 2012 11:06:23 GMT -5
What a twat! Sorry you had to endure her lecture like a good little girl.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2012 11:18:44 GMT -5
Well, we know all about her nonexistent professionalism now, don't we? No boundaries, no sense of appropriateness, no regard for truth, no exposure to current literature in the field.....
Pity the people who land in her office. There's not a chance in a million she does DS "revisions" at all, much less due to malnutrition.
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 23, 2012 12:56:15 GMT -5
Lucky - LOL! Thanks  EN - Exactly. She knows she hasn't been adequately educated about WLS, just like I know for example that I am not a chemist, yet she goes around advising people as if she is an expert in the field. She's not an expert and she operates in a hospital that is routinely in the news for surgical mishaps... and perhaps this explains why. |
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Post by ginany on May 23, 2012 13:08:05 GMT -5
LOL, You put it just the way I would Lucky, Twat. Bimbo Twat.
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Post by michellemj on May 23, 2012 13:40:06 GMT -5
Sinai def. is not a DS friendly place...I believe the current chief and one of the surgeon's in the practice used to perform them, but it is my understanding that if they do, they are one of the places that do it as a 2-stage procedure.
However, I didn't find Sinai to be a band pushing place either. Must just be this person. There isn't a female surgeon in the bariatric practice (unless she's really new)...so she shouldn't be spouting misinfo. Ugh.
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Post by Gail R on May 23, 2012 14:50:42 GMT -5
Maybe you should have asked her to become a regular customer so that she could see your improved health over the next couple of years. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when talking to someone who doesn't listen and has her own agenda.
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Post by Girlrocker on May 23, 2012 14:58:34 GMT -5
Maybe you should have asked her to become a regular customer so that she could see your improved health over the next couple of years. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when talking to someone who doesn't listen and has her own agenda. Ha! LOVE that! You should definitely pay her a visit post-op at some point Seriously, it would have been hard for me not to smack her one, you handled yourself well. And yes, very scary  |
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Post by angelcake on May 23, 2012 15:10:43 GMT -5
That's why talking to non vetted surgeons about the DS is a waste of time. It's like going to a Mercedes dealer and wondering why they think BMWs are bad. If they can't do the surgery then they're gonna slate it (yes, I had find out the hard way too). Thankfully we have the list of surgeons on www.DSfacts.com |
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Post by newyorkbitch on May 23, 2012 19:09:58 GMT -5
There is no female surgeon in the bariatric program at Mount Sinai. And no female surgeon in NYC who has done "countless" DS revisions in fact probably no surgeon period who has done "countless" DS revisions.
If she's at Mount Sinai then go find her on the Mount Sinai website - they are all there, with photos.
I smell bullshit.
(as an aside, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dan Herron, the care and attention I got when I needed guidance during my pregnancy and for delivery planning could not have been better from him and his colleagues, and my delivery at Sinai and experience at the hospital could not have been better).
You have to consider this, although not really related to this thread - when a surgeon sees noncompliant patients (DSers) over and over and over again, and DSers who get into serious trouble down the road, it is completely understandable why he would be very hesitant to perform them in all but a select few. In my opinion, it is entirely appropriate to be extremely judicious with patient selection and to do a sleeve to see how it might work before doing something as extreme and long-term risky as the DS, especially when a surgeon thinks someone might not be compliant (for whatever reason/s), makes sense in many cases. I have had this conversation extensively with Dan Herron - he is a really smart, thoughtful, experienced guy. He was on the original Sinai team with Gagner when I had my DS in 2000, he knows what he's talking about/doing.
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 24, 2012 7:05:52 GMT -5
That's the thing NYB and Michelle, she's NOT a bariatric surgeon, she's a general lapro surgeon, which made her comments that much more inappropriate and implausible. She gave me her card and believe me, looking her idiot ass up on their website was the first thing I did when I got home. She's there.
And yes, Gail and Sharyl, I hope to be happy with my DS and healthy enough in a couple of years so that I can pay her a visit!
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 24, 2012 7:09:42 GMT -5
Oh and she wasn't necessarily advocating a 2-step procedure. It was more about having the sleeve, then I would realize that the sleeve procedure is all I needed, and foregoing the switch all together. She's a DS hater based on.... I don't know what.
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Post by newyorkbitch on May 24, 2012 7:43:17 GMT -5
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Post by Joanne on May 24, 2012 8:07:00 GMT -5
What everyone else said.
I'd also echo what NYB said. While I doubt it's "countless", I know of two DS'ers this year that almost ended up revised.
The first was actually a patient of Dr Roslin's. She never took a supplement or vitamin after her surgery, and ended up at a different (non DS) NYC hospital, admitted for malnutrition, where they were about to take down her DS. We convinced her to call Dr Roslin, who had her transferred to Lenox Hill where she was stabilized and no doubt lectured. She blogged publicly about this, so I don't think I'm violating any confidentiality by repeating the story.
The second is going on right now in another forum. There is a lady with a DS who was given a 25CM common channel by her surgeon. (A non vetted DS surgeon, who we have warned people against using.). Sadly she is not his first that I know of. She is in a part of the country with no DS surgeons and the doctors she has seen are advising to take down her DS.
So no doubt there have been SOME DS revisions, but I would not say bunches. And I'd also so the cause might just ask likely be either non compliance or non experienced surgeon.
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 24, 2012 8:34:03 GMT -5
That's odd, I found her right away. I actually left without taking her card with me and I didn't remember her name, so I had to find her by searching their website for general lapro surgeons. I found her within a couple of clicks but I had to call my husband to confirm the name on the card she left because her profile pic was a little off (hair wise). I do not want to release her name in public because she is a customer of ours, besides that, I'm sure there's grounds for a lawsuit somewhere in all this  If you really want to know her name, pm me. I'll give you a direct link to her profile. |
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Post by newyorkbitch on May 24, 2012 8:43:00 GMT -5
I PM'd you.
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 24, 2012 8:46:12 GMT -5
What everyone else said. I'd also echo what NYB said. While I doubt it's "countless", I know of two DS'ers this year that almost ended up revised. The first was actually a patient of Dr Roslin's. She never took a supplement or vitamin after her surgery, and ended up at a different (non DS) NYC hospital, admitted for malnutrition, where they were about to take down her DS. We convinced her to call Dr Roslin, who had her transferred to Lenox Hill where she was stabilized and no doubt lectured. She blogged publicly about this, so I don't think I'm violating any confidentiality by repeating the story. The second is going on right now in another forum. There is a lady with a DS who was given a 25CM common channel by her surgeon. (A non vetted DS surgeon, who we have warned people against using.). Sadly she is not his first that I know of. She is in a part of the country with no DS surgeons and the doctors she has seen are advising to take down her DS. So no doubt there have been SOME DS revisions, but I would not say bunches. And I'd also so the cause might just ask likely be either non compliance or non experienced surgeon. All of which she should take into consideration before spouting off or at the very least she should have explained the situations... that is to assume she was even aware of the circumstances that led them to her OR, and also to assume she was being honest to begin with. Both cases are sad but the 25cm CC is shocking. The more I learned of the lack of vetted DS surgeons in the US, the more fortunate I felt for living so close to a great surgeon, in fact there are a few in this area that I would have on my short list of #2 choices... but of course Roslin is my #1 with a bullet. |
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Post by newyorkbitch on May 24, 2012 9:05:24 GMT -5
So I just spoke to this surgeon's office. She is in private practice, she is not part of the Mount Sinai faculty practice. She simply has privileges at Mount Sinai and does surgeries there. She does not perform any bariatric procedures, she does primarily hernias and gall bladders and hemmorhoids.
I do find it a bit hard to believe that she claimed to have performed "countless" DS revisions when it's so obviously not true. Maybe you misunderstood her?
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Post by Shawnie (kouklamonkey) on May 24, 2012 9:24:23 GMT -5
It is a rare occurrence for me to be able to speak to someone face to face who has even heard of the DS. I understood 100%. It was the basis for her argument against me having it. She said it.
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Post by newyorkbitch on May 24, 2012 9:38:51 GMT -5
That's a major lie and misrepresentation then. Wow.
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- for real? 
