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Dr. Kelly No Longer Working With Alightme- Safety Concerns Or Simply Business Issues?
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After having done over 2 years of research on bariatric surgery, and months worth on my surgeon options- I found myself very impressed with Dr. Ramos Kelly's qualifications and experience. I verified all the information on his work experience and education (this is essential, as anyone can claim a great professional track record on the internet!). My surgery went great, the staff at his hospital checked on me virtually every hour and were extremely detailed. Beyond all that, I felt cared about. Dr. Kelly visited me at the hotel with his wife and Sara (personal coordinator) early because I was doing great and wanted to take off a day early.
I was happy to refer a good friend who confided her desire to have WLS, I'm so glad my research and experience could allow my friend to have the best WLS ever (in my opinion!) with an extremely skilled surgeon.
A couple weeks ago, ALM called her up and told her that after much deliberation and meeting, that they decided they would no longer be coordinating for Dr. Kelly. Normally, a professional break up wouldn't be alarming- these relationships can go sour all the time, and clearly from some of the things we see on the board, coordinators and coordination services can get quite competitive to downright nasty (not accusing ALM or anyone in particular of that). I'll just say, the honesty track record with coordination services does not seem to always be spotless.
The concerning part is that they indicated their choice to no longer work with Dr. Kelly was due to a safety/practice issue. This struck me as odd- they continued to work with him after his first lost patient in August of 2011, and some of their other Dr.'s they coordinate for don't have the experience or positive track record Dr. Kelly does. I have been operated on by Dr. Kelly merely 2 months ago myself, and though my recovery has gone better than anticipated, I am very concerned if there is something unsafe about the surgery that was done on my new stomach.
They urged my friend to book with a different surgeon with them, but told her she had the option of getting her deposit back if she chose to stay with Dr. Kelly, but that they would not be able to book her with him in good conscience due to an undisclosed safety concern. After talking to me, I told her I didn't want her to wonder what (if any) the safety concern was, and I thought it would be wise to go with one of there other surgeons (Dr. Garcia is who she chose, seems to be a great choice).
Obviously, it can deeply cut into a coordinators business to no longer coordinate for one of your most popular surgeons (dare I say, Dr. Kelly may be the most popular!), I would assume to cut into the $ of your business during this economy, the safety concerns must be quite significant, or the relationship went extremely sour somehow.
I'd like answers. I was operated on by Dr. Kelly not too long ago, and I hope "safety concerns" are merely just something they have chosen to say to assure that they keep the patients they've already booked with him to move to a different surgeon of theirs. I don't want to worry.
My friend pressed them for information, but they made it pretty clear they could only say it was a safety concern and that they wanted to encourage her to book with another surgeon.
My gut tells me my surgery went fine, that Dr. Kelly is a good person and extremely skilled- we have so many happy patients that post on here as it is. At the same time, I don't think a major coordinator like ALM would mislead patients, this would be a detriment to their business as so many of their patients chat on boards like this.