can any1 reccomend any good lap band drs in the houston area?

Spiegel or Spivak......

Dr. Spivak banded me and I wouldn't trust any other!!! He is awesome and his office is very helpful. If you need anymore info feel free to email or pm me!

(I have heard a lot of people say they didn't care for Spiegel either)

i had heard great things about dr. spivak also, but i was banded by Matthew St. Laurent in houston, at Obesity Surgery Specialists. 713-803-7777....Specifically because i didnt have to do the pre-op liquid diet that spivak requires and then after the seminar i loved everything about their office. I had a wonderful experience. Went to my first seminar on 12/3 and was just banded on 12/29. He was such a nice dr. and a hottie!!! Noncondescending, makes eye contact with you. He's performed hundreds of surgeries, 0 deaths.

I thought it was great that after surgery i went to ICU, (this is standard for all of his patients being banded @ Renaissance Hospital) I liked it because everyone in that particular ICU is post-banding, or post-gastric bypass. All the nurses were super friendly and some have had surgery also!!!!

The only other doctor's name in the same group that I can remember is Dr. Marvin.

Whichever doc you choose make sure you research the doctor..meet with him...and make sure its someone that you feel open to talk and to ask plenty of questions.

I can't attest to anyone but Dr. Wilson and Dr. Scarborough with UT Physician's group. I haven't heard a lot about them on here but I am EXTREMELY happy with them and their staff. I was also able to use my insurance through them. Dr. Scarborough did my father's band and I commend him because my dad was an extremely high risk patient. He discovered my dad has stomach cancer (after the band eroded) and he is going to perform the surgery to remove part of his stomach. I went with Dr. Wilson because he was an Aggie and so am I . I also liked that they had a very good relationship with Hermann in the med center, and the bariatric coordinator talked to me and my FI at the pre op, as well as after my surgery. They are a very special group of people!

Dr. Spiegel wouldn't touch my dad when he originally went in for the band, and my father said he and his staff were unprofessional. I had originally made an appointment with them before my dad started his journey and when I cancelled the receptionist was rude and said "I guess you will be overweight forever." I found that humorous.

My coworker used Dr. Scarborough, my doc's partner. I have another coworker who is going with Dr. Marvin.

Try to go to two or three seminars by each group and see who you click with. Dr. Wilson did mine and I loved his energy!

Luckily with the boom in WLS you have a great choice in Houston! Good luck!

Dr. Spivak was my surgeon and I LOVE him:) Excellent bedside manner, excellent surgeon, helpful staff. Meet him and you will see--he just has this kind nature about him.

Good luck

Jessica

181-120-115

11-9-04

I was banded by Dr Spivak in November and I agree with every compliment about him that's been posted. He wont tell you how great he is (as opposed to how Dr Spiegel is) but he's really amazing.

I didnt find that Dr Spivak pushes bypass at all. He's one of the best bypass surgeons in the country so, if you're going to have bypass, he's the one to go to. From what I've read, Dr Spivak is a bit less expensive than Dr Spiegel, but I'd have chosen Dr Spivak regardless of the cost (I was self-pay).

Just a couple of replies to the posts I have read...

zone~ I didn't have to go on a liquid pre-op diet. Did they tell you that you did? I am just wondering if any of Spivak's patients had to???

It seemed to me when I went to Spivak's seminar that he would rather see patients get the band... but he did not push either one. Dr. Spivak will not do surgery on just anyone that walks through the door. He turned down a friend of mine because she had another weight loss surgery and it didn't work... but Spiegel did it for her.

I really think that you should meet all of the Dr.'s you are interested in and see which you feel more comfortable with.

Oh, and Dr. Spivak has a 0 mortality rate also!!! (That was big for me )

Nice to hear about all the area Dr.'s here!!!

I know that if I wanted surgery, I HAD to meet with Spivak... so I am glad you told me your experience with Spiegel... now I KNOW I couldn't recommend him to someone else. YIKES!!! I hope Spivak has never done something like that!

I cant even imagine Dr Spivak employing such unprofessional people. He's the consummate, caring professional himself. In my consult with him, I offered the suggestion that I might want bypass but he told me the lapband would be better for me. I'm healthy and dont have any issues that would make bypass any more dangerous than it already is so I'm sure other doctors would have been glad to take the extra $$$ for bypass.

Dr Spivak's employees are busy, but not too busy to make you feel important. And, if you check references nationwide, Dr Spivak is one of the most respected, best educated and most experienced in the WLS field.

P.S. Dr Spivak didnt put me on any special pre-op diet. I was just told to avoid high-fat and white-food-types for a week before surgery to ensure that my liver would be as small as possible.

I went with Dr. Robert Marvin with Obesity Surgery Specialists because he was on my insurance list. He has been great. He has been very caring and helpful in answering all my questions. I caught a cold the weekend before I was supposed to have my surgery. When I called the hospital, they called him and he had the pre-op staff come to the waiting room to evalute me. He came into the room and talked to me to tell me it would be okay to do he surgery. An I.V. was not started until he made the final decision. I talked to him while I was on the stretcher before I went into the operating room. He answerer all of my family's questions after I came out of surgery.

He is the first one that I would recommend to anyone.

Mary

The more I read about Dr. Spiegel the more concerned I am. Maybe I should check out others.

First rattle out of the bag, when I made the appointment for the seminar/consult I was told they would call me back to confirm. They didn't, I called the morning of (early on Saturday) to make sure, before I drove all the way over there, that I was on the list. I was -- but no one had ever called.

I was very pleased with the ladies talking before and after the seminar and his presentation during was excellent. The "consult" could only be described as a 'drive-by'. LOL He told me what I already knew...that I needed banding and should qualify. And the ladies told me what I feared, that Aetna is a big, ugly witch to get it past. :ermm

As we left, my husband and I were told that a "case worker" would be assigned my file, would contact the insurance company and talk to me within the week.

Three weeks later I called and was chastised that it was MY responsibility to contact the insurance company and prove to them that I met the criteria myself. Now I was aggravated at those ladies in the seminar who made it seem like the office staffers were pit-bulls on the ins. co. and would really go to the mat for us.

About three days later someone left a message telling me that Aetna had denied me.

That's all. :tired

Okay, so I called, faxed and faxed again and yesterday received surgical recordes detailing adhesion surgery I had years ago -- one of Aetna's "conditions" for surgery. It's time to get back in the fight. But with all the things I'm reading along with what I've already experienced, I'm really thinking I should seek out someone else.

Opinions? Comments? Advise?

Have you seen all the commercials that Spiegel has had on TV? He sounds like one of those laywers...."the hammer!"

does anyone have any idea how much Dr. Spivak total cost would be for self pay?

I was banded by Dr Spivak on November 21 and was self-pay. His fee for self-pay is $15,000. That does not include any pre-op testing but it does include fills for 1-2 years. (I cant recall how many years of free fills that includes; someone told me one year, but someone else said that, if you lose a certain number of pounds the first year, any fills the second year are also free.) You can do a google search for "Hadar Spivak" and find his webpage; he's one of the few doctors who posts his prices on the internet.

I got financing through Capital One and Dr Spivak's office took care of all the paperwork.

I understand that Dr Spiegel charges more for self-pay, but cost is not the reason I chose Dr Spivak. I wanted the most knowledgeable surgeon and I felt so fortunate to live in the same city as one of the best in the country. Dr Speigel advertises, on TV, that he's done more lapbands than anyone else; however, after a doctor's done a few hundred lapbands, I dont think it matters whether he's done 5,000 or 10,000. What matters is his knowledge and his artistry. Dr Spivak doesnt pat himself on the back and he doesnt brag about himself; someone who works at the Surgery Center told me that almost any surgeon can do lapband surgery successfully but that it takes a really good surgeon to do bypass successfully. Dr Spivak is recognized as an expert in bypass surgery nationally and that's the experience I wanted in my lapband surgeon. Maybe my lapband surgery wasnt complicated but I wanted the best doctor in case something went wrong.

Too, my personal experience is that Dr Spivak isnt in this JUST for the $$$. I was willing to have bypass and even told him that I was open to it. All he had to do was say "ok" and he'd have pocketed an extra $10,000-15,000. But he gently advised that he thought the lapband was better suited for me. I dont think Dr Speigel does bypass so I'd have expected him to say that, but I was very impressed with Dr Spivak's willingness to "bypass" the extra $$$ because he felt I could lose my weight with the less invasive procedure.