I am thinking about going to Costa Rica for surgery, but I just cannot make up my mind. Does anyone have any experience with Costa Rica? I have found the Clinica Biblica Hospital a JCI accredited hospital and they offer the gastric sleeve surgery for a very reasonable price. The thing that really attracts me to this facility and the doc is the fact that they require basically the same testing that my doc in the US put me through. They require you see a nutritionist, psych, abdominal ultrasound, gastroscopy, respiratory test, and a metabolic analysis. You stay one night in the hospital and then four nights in a recovery facility. Is this too good to be true? Am I missing something here? I cannot make up my mind. I was all ready to go to Mexico until I found this hospital. Oh and the total cost for everything including my husband's airfare and food is 13,500 which is not bad compared to the 33,000 price I received from a doc in Atlanta. My insurance will of course pay for some of those tests listed, but I am tired of dealing with them and would prefer to just have them all done in Costa Rica.

Thanks

I have no experience with Costa Rica, obviously. But if price is a big concern for you, the doctor I'm going to, Dr. Mark Pleatman, charges $11,200 for the sleeve. He's located in Bloomfield Hills, MI, which is about 30 miles outside of Detroit.

Before you go to Pleatman, you might want to watch this video:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcYH5lWa9Rk]YouTube - Laparoscopic Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy[/ame]

After I watched it, I crossed him off my list.

Was that un-gloved finger??! Seemed quite shoddy to me.

It seemed like a lot of bleeding compared to other videos? What else does it show?

It seemed like a lot of bleeding compared to other videos? What else does it show?

I could see too much bleeding, a botched and corrected end to the staple line and an ungloved finger stuck into the abdominal cavity.

Compared to this, supplier by WASA

Vanderbilt University Medical Center?

it was shoddy.

Anything else I missed Mac?

Surgical clips at the start of the cut. There should be no reason to use surgical clips like that.

I don't like the idea of doing a leak test on the part of the stomach that isn't even IN the patient. He leak tests the part that is removed.

With the number of leaks he has had it seems to me he should be doing a leak test on the stomach in the patient.

I am quite sure his finger was gloved, not a doubt in my mind.

Bleeding was minimal.

I didn't see a bare finger either, but I've watched about 10 different sleeve videos and the bleeding in that one was about 2x what it was in any of the others.

I didn't see a bare finger either, but I've watched about 10 different sleeve videos and the bleeding in that one was about 2x what it was in any of the others.

I'm not defending Pleatman by a long shot in the whole scheme of things but you have to understand you are seeing about an ounce or less of blood. You are also seeing only what people want you to see in all the videos. Pleatman has no control over where a bleeder might show up. You can get a bleeder by doing a suture. That bleeding is not out of line by any means. It's very typical and normal. I can appreciate that you have watched 10 videos but in this case you really are incorrect about the bleeding, I've seen probably 1000 various types of surgery and there isn't anything wrong with that video.

I just don't like his leak stats or leak tests.