I have been sleeved myself since march 16th down over 20lbs and feeling like my body is back to normal so to speak.

In the last few weeks I have come to understand that its possible to go to a clinic that doesn't take proper precautions and many are having leaks and infections. One lady I heard ran up a $285,000 hospital bill in the U.S. after her lowest price sleeve turned into a night mare.

Another lady I talked to quit one clinic she worked at that had many leaks and infections.

She also told me that these same people that got mistreated DON'T speak up about it afterward.

Please if you have had a bad experience speak up! When a lot of these are coming out of the same place we should be able to collectively do something about it!

I feel so bad that there are many people going to places (with lowest VSG price) that are ramming people through without proper care (because they are doing 12 per day in the same O.R) and then ending up with leaks, infections and feeding tubes, man this is so bad!!!

Please lets do something about this to save the misery of others.

i still don't understand why people would choose this place if anything everyone who suggest someone to go to this place should really wish them good luck becuse you are just going on chance and not just a good chance. most of you guys know i had an infection and i left a day early becasue those people did not know i was running a high fever!!!! then you put me in a house with no AC. ok yeah i see the great care there. that good care? or did I just slip though the crack of their wonderful caring loving arms????? um no those people over work themselves for a dollar and they place is too small for all that. the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that i didn't wind up with a hospital bill my insurance payed for it all but what if they didn't? Now you got there ex S. R. calling ex pateinces(no lie she is actully doing this her and the good "DR." are going though some legal stuff) and telling them they might have hiv or some crap as if i need to hear that! ( and yes i just had a hiv test done at the health department so now i'm on needles) i wont give my sleeve back for nothing but i will say this much if i had half the brains and knowledge that i have today i would have never went there. never. that place is too much like russia roulette.

Edited April 12, 201016 yr by ryansgirl

Oh by the way pnw218 or anyone else I have never received a dollar from anyone at any time for anything to do with the VSG or these boards...

Holey mosus. If even one of those posts is true about the aftercare, why would anyone consider going there? If none of those posts is true, why isn't some legal action being taken to protect the innocent doctor and clinic?

Legal action IS being taken! Some believe that they are untouchable because this is the internet. While the internet does provide some anonymity, our attorney will obtain their whereabouts and will do everything within the law to move forward and he WILL put a stop to this.

Some people that have already been notified and have quieted down as they now realize they cannot just post any untrue thing they want without repercussions.

All the perpetrators will be identified and the proper legal action will be taken. It's very sad that some surgeons compete for business by using former patients to bash the reputation of other surgeons.

If anyone has any questions related to the aforementioned legal action, please email our attorney David Zarka at dzarka@stonegraves.com

i still don't understand why people would choose this place if anything everyone who suggest someone to go to this place should really wish them good luck becuse you are just going on chance and not just a good chance. most of you guys know i had an infection and i left a day early becasue those people did not know i was running a high fever!!!! then you put me in a house with no AC. ok yeah i see the great care there. that good care? or did I just slip though the crack of their wonderful caring loving arms????? um no those people over work themselves for a dollar and they place is too small for all that. the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that i didn't wind up with a hospital bill my insurance payed for it all but what if they didn't? Now you got there ex S. R. calling ex pateinces(no lie she is actully doing this her and the good "DR." are going though some legal stuff) and telling them they might have hiv or some crap as if i need to hear that! ( and yes i just had a hiv test done at the health department so now i'm on needles) i wont give my sleeve back for nothing but i will say this much if i had half the brains and knowledge that i have today i would have never went there. never. that place is too much like russia roulette.

Nikki, Forgive me I just saw this post. I know that your real, (as are many many other's who have posted of their misfortune). You are fortunate that your insurance paid to treat you in relation to your sleeve gastrectomy. Keep the faith... I will pray that your hiv testing comes out negative. Thanks for this post and wishes for good health as you progress on your WL journey. -Lis

Trust me, if my doctor had anything but a sterling reputation and track record, I would not allow him to cut me. Money is important, of course it is. No one can argue with that. But this is the only life I have. If I die there are no do-overs for me.

This surgery is not simple and not without risks. The biggest risks as I understand them are 1) leaks and 2) infections. Either one of those can cause death.

When I read the comment that no doctor goes without having patients with complications, it made me think that the accusations and posts must be true and that's the only defense they could come up with. But that certainly does not explain the reason for the many problems nor does it offer any assurance that the conditions that caused the problems have been remedied and that the incidents of infection and a leak are no longer happening.

If you know people who have had a great experience there and you are convinced that it is the right place for you to have this very serious surgery done, then that is great. And I certainly wish you nothing but the best. Undoubtedly this forum has called attention to any issues they may have had in the past and they are being extremely careful now. But if it were me, I'd want some kind of assurance that things have improved and these things are no longer a serious problem for their patients.

And honestly I don't know why I even became involved in this discussion! I have had no personal experience with any doctor in Mexico and I do not plan to ever go there for medical treatment. The whole thing just captured my attention last night and I was transfixed reading all the posts for hours. After having read them I was more than a little surprised that people are still choosing that doctor. But I am sure that they are making the choice based on reliable information they have and they are not allowing people's posts on the internet cloud the issue for them.

I must say that if legal action does take place against someone for false accusations, I would be very interested in learning of the outcome.

If this is true, why don't you make a post on this board asking all Dr. Aceves patients to please respond if they have any complaints.

The statement you made was completely unsubstantiated! If someone told you this, you have been misinformed! Please explain where you heard this and why you believe it to be true.

Regarding your statement of "edited posts", I was not saying the posts were edited individually. What I am saying is that Michelle took certain posts and portions of posts and put them in PM's that she sends to potential patients in order to make them look a certain way. And yes, I am saying that she sends referrals to Dr. Aceves.

I do have to laugh when you say, "ALL patients of Dr. Aceves are happy and NOBODY has one bad thing to say about him". Come on now, NO ONE that provides services makes 100% of his clients happy! Even Dr. Aceves has had complications. He is a surgeon and ALL surgeons have had complications from time to time. Even serious ones! To believe otherwise is naive!

BJean

I'm with you. It really doesn't concern me but I would LOVE to know the outcome.

stcyt: My husband thinks I'm crazy for even reading about it. But it is fascinating stuff.

I know right!!! I just can't stop reading

Take care

Stacey

Like watching a train wreck. LOL

If this is true, why don't you make a post on this board asking all Dr. Aceves patients to please respond if they have any complaints.

I don't need to put up a post to ask people of any particular surgeon to post about their complications. I KNOW they have all had them. This is major surgery performed on obese people. Some very high risk! Any surgeon having done this type of surgery long enough has had complications.

Did it ever occur to you that a Center that does more surgeries would just by statistics, have more complications? The center where Dr. Almanza is performs more surgeries than anyone else in all of Mexico.

Do you really believe that even your surgeon has never had drama attached to him? I remember about a year or so ago on the OH boards when a patient died. The patient?s cousin posted about it. Midwestern/wasabubblebutt/Michelle claimed that the patient died because they ate a big mac after surgery! It was somehow the patient's fault. Yes, that post was removed. Why? I don't know. Could it be from spending a lot of advertising money? I don't know and I don't claim to know. I just know it happened. Michelle also claimed that the person was high risk. True? Maybe..I don't know. But the point is, it was a serious complication and it was posted then removed.

If I admit the doctor has some complications, I'm accused of "making excuses or attempting damage control". If I were to say he doesn't have any complications, I would be accused of lying. And I would be lying. However, I will say that the amount of complications Dr. Almanza has is well within an acceptable range and well within the SAME range as all the other good doctors.

You might ask yourself if you see a higher number, because he does a higher number of surgeries. I've explained this before, but here we go again. If a doc does 10 surgeries a month and has a 1 in 10 complication rate, that means he will have 1 patient complication per month. If another doc does 100 surgeries a month and has the same complication rate, he will have 10 patients with complications per month. (This is just an example; I'm NOT quoting actual percentages nor breaking down small as opposed to serious complications).

You will also notice that MANY posts of unfavorable statements have come from people that have NEVER been to or even met Dr. Almanza. Many things have been re-posted many times to make it appear that there are ?so many? of them. If it?s hearsay on an internet chat board, it holds no merit!

Of course everyone should do their own research, however they should speak to people that have FIRST HAND experience and not hearsay! Too much of this "information" posted on these boards is hearsay!

In the end, do what's right for you!

Are you for real? Most doctors DON'T do over 100 surgeries a month like you stated because they don't consider it save. This isn't like trying to do firewood and to see how many cords a month you can pile up.

A lot of doctors only want to do 3 maximum per day! Do the math. Many good doctors go months without problems in their clinics so don't use that as an excuse for a lack of proper precautions etc.

You realize that their is not many complaints coming in for other clinics just Jerusalem/Emmanuel? Why is that? In fact I haven't heard of another place...

I hope they make the proper changes and things will change on the boards.

Gosh my doctor has done hundreds of lap bands and hundreds of sleeves and over 200 band to sleeve conversions. The only complication he has ever had, in all that time, was when one patient took a handful of vitamins (several months after surgery) and aspirated them. It became a very life-threatening situation and he had to be opened up to get the vitamins out.

I have no data from a hospital or clinic where hundreds of bariatric surgeries are done each week, but I'd be willing to bet that they do not have a large number of incidents of wound infections. Perhaps it would be smart if someone who has a vested interest could do some research and see how many complications are considered "acceptable" and how many are condsidered "excessive."

I do not even know how many actual posts there were of patients who had contracted infections or who had a leak who posted here. Perhaps Can. can tell us. If the doctor is doing a lot of surgeries per day, then Sandy might be right when she says that the clinic has not experienced an excessive number of problems.

Edited April 12, 201016 yr by BJean

Are you for real? Most doctors DON'T do over 100 surgeries a month like you stated because they don't consider it save.

Maybe "most" doctors don't do over 100 surgeries a month. This Center DOES do between 110 and 120 per month. They do up to 4 Sleeves or Bypass per day and more if they are Bands. Times 2 surgeons. There are 20 surgery days in the month. 4 X 20 = 80 times 2 surgeons, so that means they can comfortably do 160 surgeries each month. But they actually do an average of 115.

A lot of doctors only want to do 3 maximum per day! Do the math. Many good doctors go months without problems in their clinics so don't use that as an excuse for a lack of proper precautions etc..

If "a lot" of doctors do 3 surgeries a day times 20 surgery days per surgeon, that's 60 per month (I just did the math..LOL!) I don't believe for one minute that they have NO complications. If that what you're saying? No complications...ever?

Additionally, when I stated a per month complication rate, that was just doing an average. Of course this will vary from month to month. Some months, no complications, some months, more complications. It's called SURGERY!

You realize that their is not many complaints coming in for other clinics just Jerusalem/Emmanuel? Why is that? In fact I haven't heard of another place..

Again, maybe there are not as many because they don't do as many. Are you saying that NO OTHER CLINIC has complications because you "haven't heard of another place"?

I still stand by my statement that the number of complications is acceptable and in line with all the other GOOD doctors.

OMG! Looks like "MidwesternGirl - Wasabubblebutt - aka Michelle Walsh" has been very busy, cutting and pasting and going back through several years of posts!

Sandy,

Are you outing someone by posting her last name on the internet!!?? I hope you don't handle your patients'/clients' personal information in this manner.

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To Nikki,

Reading your story brought tears to my eyes. I can't imagine how bad that must have to be in that position. I have read your posts about your progress and how you are meeting your goals, and your pics look great. You have come through everything so well and you should be proud of yourself for making it through that experience and still coming here to post with a positive attitude. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Tiffany(IsMajor),

Your post about people thinking you are stupid or too focused on money to take care of yourself is not what we're getting at (at least I think others feel the way I do). I don't think ANYONE here intends to make you or anyone else feel bad about the choices you make. Some of us are more outspoken than others, but I think we all are more focused on getting the word out about concerns with various doctors and clinics as opposed to trying to criticize the patients. Although the money aspect for patients has been mentioned, and maybe it shouldn't be, that's not the heart of the problem.

Please don't feel like this is directed at you because it's not. It's not your fault or any other patient's fault. This is about the medical practitioners and the people who might be covering things up. Regardless of where you go for surgery, the more informed you are the more likely you are to get better care. You now know what to look out for and some ways to handle bad situations that might occur anywhere. Your fellow sleevers are on your side no matter where you go to have surgery.