Hi ms1. Dr. Speigel is not going to be doing my procedure but I can share my story with you. When I first decided to have the lapband it was almost 2 years ago to the day. I had heard Dr. Speigels ads on the radio and on tv so I decided to give him a try... I went to a seminar at his office and met with him and his staff. I was not impressed. He was very impersonal and his staff treated me like a number and not a person. I went ahead and decided that he had the experience and it didnt matter about how I was treated as long as he was good at what he did. So I started the process of getting approved through insurance. It was a constant struggle every day to get through to someone at that office. I left messages with everyone I could and never got a return call. I got so sick of dealing with his staff that I decided to change doctors. I did my research and found Dr. Stan Hahn in Port Arthur. He is very nice and friendly, a little shy, but a really nice guy. He sat and talked with me for about 2 hours and addressed everything that I could possibly need to know(opposed to the 2 minutes I had with Dr. Speigel). My surgery is scheduled for Monday, March 9th. and I couldnt be more excited. My first visit with Dr. Hahn was about 5 weeks ago and I have already been approved through insurance, had all my pre-op tests and am scheduled for surgery. My aunt and uncle have also had their surgeries done by Dr. Hahn, she works for a local lawyers office and he works for a major hospital, through their professions they have heard bad things about Dr. Speigel. I don't want to say the specifics, I just wanted to let you know my story. Hope you have better luck than I did.