Hi just wondering if anyone in here got banded by the "Brigham and Women's" Hospital in Boston, MA around this forum. or at ANY other hosp or doctor in Boston, MA.

Hi, I was banded August 3,2005 @ BIDMC in Boston, by Dr. Schneider. I have received nothing but wonderful care and follow-up. I would highly recommend him and his team to anyone. I am an RN, and the nursing care I got while I was in the hospital was wonderful too.

Hi nurse4126,

Thanks for your input. I went to BI few times before for some check ups. What a great hospital.

Would you mind telling me how much did it cost you? Cause I inquired at some places before and I was told no less than 20K. to the point where I was driven to get the band overseas in Franace. If you you don't feel comfortable posting the cost, you can PM it to me and that would be greatly appreacited.

Thanks:)

I went to Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, so I might be biased, but I would recommend you check out Dr. Scott Shikora, at http://www.obesityconsult.org/index.htm , who operates at the New England Medical Center.

Dr. Shikora is a long time bariatric surgeon, and has peformed a large number number of bariatric operations. He started off many years ago performing gastric bypass, and also performs the Lap Band and offers that to his patients as well.

I think there are potential benefits to being a patient in an established bariatric program. I remember when I was a medical student in Boston 10 years ago, hearing about Dr. Shikora and his bariatric program (at the time gastric bypass) and many of us thought to ourselves 'what is bariatric surgery?' He has been doing this for quite a long time compared with many other surgeons.

Take a look at his website. Seems quite academic to me; links to nutritional websites, a list of their complication rate (how often do you see that?), info on medical weight loss. I'm impressed.

Unfortunately as med student I never rotated on his service, so I have no first hand experience with him, but I did speak with him at the American Society of Bariatric Surgeons meeting a couple of years ago and he seemed like an extremely nice person. He is quite popular on the academic lecture circuit for bariatric surgery, and seems to be a genuine advocate for patients trying to overcome the disease of morbid obesity.

I met with Dr Shikora yesterday for my surgical consult and am also very impressed with him. The Tufts-NEMC program is by far the most comprehensive one in this area.

My insurance covered the cost of the procedure. There is a 500 dollar fee though for the surgery at BIDMC. Good luck Magic, with whomever you choose!

Hi Magic -- I got banded at BIDMC by Dr Schneider too and loved the program there. My insurance covered it as well (except the $500 fee). It is a great program. My friend was banded at the Brigham and she loves it there too. I think the 2 programs are very similar. I did hear someone at the desk at BIDMC say that the surgery was close to 35K if you were self paying..... Good luck with your decision! BIDMC has info sessions the 1st & 3rd thurs of the month in the evening that you can go check out the team as well as meet other bandsters there for the support group it is open to all...........

bandayed,

Thank you sooooooooo much for the great info, about the prices

But HOLYYYYYY MOLYYYYYYYYY They are soo expensive for a self pay. I have college insurance since I'm doing my masters. and as you know college insurances tend to be cheap and they would never cover me for that.

I thought hospitals in the US charges 15k to 20k, and thought it was expensive already. How about 35k:dead

I guess I will go with the option of the Midband in France, they charge 6k Euros, thats about 8k or 9k $.

Thanks a lot again, and all the best

OH>>>I"m so excited. Thanks so much for the excellent recommendation for the TUFTS NEMC. I have my first appointment there for counseling on Tuesday!

I have researched quite a bit and was so impressed with the department and all the support services they offer.

Thanks for reassuring me....

bandayed,

Thank you sooooooooo much for the great info, about the prices

But HOLYYYYYY MOLYYYYYYYYY They are soo expensive for a self pay. I have college insurance since I'm doing my masters. and as you know college insurances tend to be cheap and they would never cover me for that.

I thought hospitals in the US charges 15k to 20k, and thought it was expensive already. How about 35k:dead

I guess I will go with the option of the Midband in France, they charge 6k Euros, thats about 8k or 9k $.

Thanks a lot again, and all the best

Hey Magic,

Since your coming to Europe you should just get it done in Portugal and come stay with me! :clap2: I haven't found out the cost yet but I should know on Friday, if its 8,000 in France it should be cheaper here. I'll keep you posted.

I have yet to be banded but have my first appt on Tuesday. I have done a ton of research on the proceedure; pro's/cons, ect and am very happy in my decision to go to Tufts NEMC>

This is a web site about the doc at NEMC: Dr. Shikora is very well educated in the proceedure. He is well published on by-pass, lab banding, nutrition and obesity. He has been doing bypass surgery for 20 years. The Obesity Clinic has done over 3000 lap band procedures since it became legal in the US>

Dr Shikora has no malpractice suite payments recorded in the past 10 years. The site I used to search only went to 10 years..ofcourse I can't remember what it was...still trying to find it again!

http://www.nemc.org/home/findadoctor/Default.aspx

This is the site that give you info on the NEMC Obesity Clinic

http://www.nemc.org/surgery/html/bariatric/default.htm

This one is informative on the proceedure itself.

http://www.smallscars.com/

I'm not banded yet, hoping to schedule surgery in Mid May, but i'm going to Brigham and Women's hospital, seeing Dr. Ashley Vernon.

She's been really great, spent more than an hour with me at my consult, and that was after I spent an hour each with her Physician Assistant and the nutritionist. I got a lot of great info after those appointments!

I highly recommend Dr. Vernon, and suggest you come to the Lap Band Support group meetings, the 2nd Tuesday of each month at Brigham and Womens - i've been going for a couple of months now, and it's ok just to show up, listen, and ask a few questions - there are more post banders than prebanders, but there are a few of us pre banders each meeting.

It does seem like most of the Brigham and Womens people hang out more on the obesityhelp.org site than here.

Welcome!!

Hi there! I was banded at the BIDMC in Boston by Dr. Daniel Jones, who works with Dr. Schneider. I looked into NEMC, b/c my aunt works there, but I work for the BI, so I opted for Dr. Jones, instead.

I wish you SO much success, no matter where you go or what you do. I think that once you see that scale going down, you will know that no matter what, you made the right decision!!!

Jen

What is the wait time...from the time you make an appointment until they actually do the procedure? Anyone know?

What is the wait time...from the time you make an appointment until they actually do the procedure? Anyone know?

For Brigham and Womens, it's not too bad - I went to the seminar in December, saw the surgeon in mid February (the first appt she had available was two months after I called for an appt), will have my tests done and submitted to the insurance company in mid March, and hope to have surgery in mid May.

My insurance company doesn't require a 6 month supervised diet, so i'm hopeful that mid May will be my surgery time - it's possible I could have it done sooner (in April), but I have several things scheduled that I don't want to be recovering from surgery for.

At UMass in Worcester, it seems to take about a year from start to finish - While I think their program is good, that was too much time for me, so I went with Brigham and Womens.

The two main variables for how long it takes until your surgery are what your insurance company requires (many/most require 6 months of a doctor supervised weight loss program) and how long it takes to get the appointments you need (surgeon, psych, any other tests you need, and getting on the surgeon's surgery schedule).

Hope this helps!!

May I ask what insurance company you have?