I am looking for a surgeon for the sleeve in central Ohio. I'm fine with traveling a few hours in any direction to get someone who comes highly recommended not only as a surgeon but for their program. Obviously, since I would be long distance I'd need a program that's flexible with "distance learning". Anyone with recommendations from Ohio, Pittsburgh, Detroit, I've love to hear. Thanks.

I have family in Ohio, so I considered going there for surgery. I wasn't impressed with the offerings there. First, the price quoted to me was high (23K) and the Dr. (Meyer, I think) didn't have a lot of experience. If you have insurance coverage, the price might not be a deterrent, and we all have different requirements as far as how much experience we are comfortable with. I almost went with Dr. Mark Pleatman in the Detroit area. He is very experienced but rubs some people the wrong way. I spoke to him on the phone and really liked him, but I come from a family of plain speaking (read: tactless) scientists, so his manner struck me as honest. His fees are very inexpensive. I ended up not having the surgery with Pleatman because I didn't have anyone to accompany me there.

If you search messageboards for Pleatman, you'll see that people have strong feelings about him, both positive and negative. He does have some people suing him for malpractice but I don't find that surprising. First of all, surgeons get sued a lot, and second, if you're blunt, you tend to piss people off.

A word about experience: lots of people have good luck with a relatively inexperienced surgeon, but it is true, statistically, that all sorts of complications go down after a surgeon has completed about 300 laparascopic VSGs. I'm a single parent, so I looked for the most experienced surgeon I could find. I almost went to Cirangle/Jossart in San Francisco, but again had trouble finding someone to go with me. Finally I opted for Toby Broussard in OK because he had lots of experience and I had family there.

Good luck finding a surgeon.

I have family in Ohio, so I considered going there for surgery. I wasn't impressed with the offerings there. First, the price quoted to me was high (23K) and the Dr. (Meyer, I think) didn't have a lot of experience. If you have insurance coverage, the price might not be a deterrent, and we all have different requirements as far as how much experience we are comfortable with. I almost went with Dr. Mark Pleatman in the Detroit area. He is very experienced but rubs some people the wrong way. I spoke to him on the phone and really liked him, but I come from a family of plain speaking (read: tactless) scientists, so his manner struck me as honest. His fees are very inexpensive. I ended up not having the surgery with Pleatman because I didn't have anyone to accompany me there.

If you search messageboards for Pleatman, you'll see that people have strong feelings about him, both positive and negative. He does have some people suing him for malpractice but I don't find that surprising. First of all, surgeons get sued a lot, and second, if you're blunt, you tend to piss people off.

A word about experience: lots of people have good luck with a relatively inexperienced surgeon, but it is true, statistically, that all sorts of complications go down after a surgeon has completed about 300 laparascopic VSGs. I'm a single parent, so I looked for the most experienced surgeon I could find. I almost went to Cirangle/Jossart in San Francisco, but again had trouble finding someone to go with me. Finally I opted for Toby Broussard in OK because he had lots of experience and I had family there.

Good luck finding a surgeon.

Thanks very much for the info. I've found that gastric bypass is the very, very dominate surgery here and even the couple I've found who offer the sleeve end up trying to sway me to gastric bypass. I think it's human nature that they want what they are more comfortable with, not what might be right for you. I'm trying to find that gastric surgeon who is confident with his ability to sleeve and I think that starts with them NOT trying to convince me that gastric bypass would be a better choice.

I'm here in Youngstown Ohio. Dr Woodruff is my dr and his office is great. St Elizabeth (Humility of Mary Health Partners) is a "Magna" Hosp ( first one in the state even bet Cleveland Clinic) Both me and my sister are getting the sleeve done.

Not sure if you've found anyone yet... I live near Cleveland and am planning my surgery for St Vincents Charity Hosp. with Dr. Ben-meir. I have been researching them and there are rave reviews. I met the surgeon and he is a perfectionist with a very very low complication rate.

I had my surgery with DR Donovan Teel at Premier Metabolic Batiatrics in Dayton Ohio at Miami Valley Hospital. He was great and his staff is excellent. They are a Center of Excellence which is one of the reasons I chose him.

I live in Columbus and have not yet done much investigating into my local doctors. If it ends up that my insurance will cover it, then I will be checking and double and triple checking the local docs. However, I have a hunch the insurance will not cover it so I am planning on heading to Mexico. I should know soon either way. If you are self pay, you might want to consider other locations. As someone above said, experience can and is a significant factor in the number of complications (thought not always the deciding factor).

Good luck! I'll let you know if I find anything significant out.

I had my surgery done by Dr Myers in Columbus at Riverside. I don't know why you don't think he has much experience, he does and I am very happy with my experience and with the follow up support in his program.

He has many years experience in general surgery, and has operated on me twice. First was my sleeve, second was gallbladder removal and hernia repair.

I am looking for a surgeon for the sleeve in central Ohio. I'm fine with traveling a few hours in any direction to get someone who comes highly recommended not only as a surgeon but for their program. Obviously, since I would be long distance I'd need a program that's flexible with "distance learning". Anyone with recommendations from Ohio, Pittsburgh, Detroit, I've love to hear. Thanks.

I had my surgery done at the Cleveland Clinic by Dr Bipan Chand. He was fantastic and the program was pretty good too. The nursing staff/hospital stay was a little iffy but still okay. I felt great after the surgery and returned (by my request) to work only 2 weeks later. I am now 10 weeks post op (55 lbs lighter) and feel fantastic! Most of my generic testiing that is required (ie blood test, nutrition, etc..) I was allowed to complete at my local family doctor (I live about 2 hours from Cleveland). Someone listed Dr. Meyer as a recommended surgeon... as I'm sure all surgeon and hospitals have their own horror stories, I work with a lady who had her gastric bypass done by Dr. Meyer and was on her death bed for a long time. The surgery was botched and she continues to have issue years later. Her body is now the body of an annorexic (spelling?). I'm not sure of the complete details of what actually happened but she is still not "out of the woods". Use your judgment on that but I thought I'd let you know my knowledge of that particular surgeon.

Again, Dr. Chand was wonderful! I had no problems with any part of the surgery and highly recommend him. Good luck in your decision. It was well worth it for me!

I live in Columbus and have not yet done much investigating into my local doctors. If it ends up that my insurance will cover it, then I will be checking and double and triple checking the local docs. However, I have a hunch the insurance will not cover it so I am planning on heading to Mexico. I should know soon either way. If you are self pay, you might want to consider other locations. As someone above said, experience can and is a significant factor in the number of complications (thought not always the deciding factor).

Good luck! I'll let you know if I find anything significant out.

I would be very interested in talking to you after your trip to Mexico. Please let me know if we can talk. I have insurance but would still consider

Mexico because I've talked to three people locally who went, had this doctor and a very positive experience.

Thanks.

I had my surgery done at the Cleveland Clinic by Dr Bipan Chand. He was fantastic and the program was pretty good too. The nursing staff/hospital stay was a little iffy but still okay. I felt great after the surgery and returned (by my request) to work only 2 weeks later. I am now 10 weeks post op (55 lbs lighter) and feel fantastic! Most of my generic testiing that is required (ie blood test, nutrition, etc..) I was allowed to complete at my local family doctor (I live about 2 hours from Cleveland). Someone listed Dr. Meyer as a recommended surgeon... as I'm sure all surgeon and hospitals have their own horror stories, I work with a lady who had her gastric bypass done by Dr. Meyer and was on her death bed for a long time. The surgery was botched and she continues to have issue years later. Her body is now the body of an annorexic (spelling?). I'm not sure of the complete details of what actually happened but she is still not "out of the woods". Use your judgment on that but I thought I'd let you know my knowledge of that particular surgeon.

Again, Dr. Chand was wonderful! I had no problems with any part of the surgery and highly recommend him. Good luck in your decision. It was well worth it for me!

Do you have any idea what was botched? And how long ago the surgery was that went bad?

I think you're right that every surgeon will have bad results at times. But in this case I'd like to know what caused the issue. I have heard

one story about Dr. Meyer already. That alone does not scare me off as things can happen. But the story behind what happened concerned

me. I don't want to get into details publicly because the issue is not resolved but it did not give me warm and fuzzy feelings.

I had my surgery done at the Cleveland Clinic by Dr Bipan Chand. He was fantastic and the program was pretty good too. The nursing staff/hospital stay was a little iffy but still okay. I felt great after the surgery and returned (by my request) to work only 2 weeks later. I am now 10 weeks post op (55 lbs lighter) and feel fantastic! Most of my generic testiing that is required (ie blood test, nutrition, etc..) I was allowed to complete at my local family doctor (I live about 2 hours from Cleveland). Someone listed Dr. Meyer as a recommended surgeon... as I'm sure all surgeon and hospitals have their own horror stories, I work with a lady who had her gastric bypass done by Dr. Meyer and was on her death bed for a long time. The surgery was botched and she continues to have issue years later. Her body is now the body of an annorexic (spelling?). I'm not sure of the complete details of what actually happened but she is still not "out of the woods". Use your judgment on that but I thought I'd let you know my knowledge of that particular surgeon.

Again, Dr. Chand was wonderful! I had no problems with any part of the surgery and highly recommend him. Good luck in your decision. It was well worth it for me!

This is good to know. The Cleveland Clinic was on my list but when I called and talked to them about 3 months ago they said I would

need to plan on a pretty long wait to get to actual surgery in their program. Was that the case for you? Due to insurance issues I need to have this done

in the next 8 months. CC acted like 11 months (at the time) wasn't reasonable since I would have been a long commute for

appointments and they said that tends to drag things out. ????

I had my surgery with DR Donovan Teel at Premier Metabolic Batiatrics in Dayton Ohio at Miami Valley Hospital. He was great and his staff is excellent. They are a Center of Excellence which is one of the reasons I chose him.

Thanks. I'll look into this one.

I can recommend Dr. Dan and Dr. Zografakis at Summa Hospital and Dr. Chlysta of Akron General, all in Akron as receiving wonderful feedback from friends and relations.

My surgeon is Dr. Peter Lalor from Bowling Green Ohio. There has been a bariatric program at Wood County Hospital for over 30 years. http://www.wch.net I am scheduled for surgery Feb 2. Dr. Lalor is a perfectionist and has had very few problem surgeries. He will never discharge a patient if he suspects a problem. There is one negative comment left on his site on the Obesity Help website. It was left recently and I get the feeling that the person who left it is not following his recommendations and he is frustrated with her.

I went in for my last visit before surgery just last week and he was very patient and answered tons of questions from my hubby and me.

I am very, very impressed with everything I saw at Wood County Hospital. I got to meet with the anesteologist and was very impress with his honesty and how much information he shared with me.

There is a monthly support meeting, the next one is Monday, Jan 24th at 7 pm at the hospital. I'm going to be there.

He does alot of RNY's but has done many sleeves also.