There are so many doctors who perform this surgery! How do you know you have a great one? Is there a way to find out what a specific doctor's complication rate is? I'm wondering if there is a way besides asking, just to confirm that the information they might give would be accurate.

What I did was went to the top of this page and clicked surgeons. I searched from some around my area and messaged the people that used them directly. They will let you know how the surgeon was Other than that, I just researched on Google.

Doctors don't publish their complication rates, but a good one will tell you about the complications they have managed. For the bad guys, you can check for malpractice suits and complaints on your physician's state license board website.

My doc showed me graphs and calculations of all of his surgeries...I liked the physical evidence over just his word. I also looked on many different forums and usually seems the good ones you will see their names over and over again

A couple of things that can shrink the list of candidates some -

http://www.dsfacts.com/duodenal-switch-surgeons.html is a list of well regarded DS surgeons who are worth of consideration - as the DS uses the VSG as its basis, those who are well skilled in the DS will also have good experience with the sleeve, an important point with the growing popularity of the sleeve and the number of surgeons who are relatively new to the sleeve.

If you find a surgeon who has been changing jobs or practices frequently - stay away. In the business climate of the past few years, a change of practice, practices splitting up or being absorbed by larger organizations is not uncommon so a job change or change of practice is not a big deal, but a doc who goes thru that every year or so is a big red flag.

Also consider that raw complication rates, were they readily available and in comparable formats, may not tell you what you really want to know. Some of the best docs may have higher complication rates than their less skilled peers simply because they may take on more difficult cases. The old adage of the man who has never made a mistake has never done anything applies here.

I spent a bunch of time online looking for reviews of my doctor and clinic. I also looked for anything I could find on malpractice suits and his other experience in surgery. I was able to learn a lot about my doctor and his past experience not only as a bariatric surgeon. It made me feel better to know I couldn't find a single bad review or issue and that he also had some experience in trauma surgeries (Made me feel less worried about worst case scenario of any emergency).

I asked him straight up in our consultation how many complications he has had with the sleeve as well as how many sleeves he has done. He was pretty straight forward with me and explained his approach to avoiding complications. My mom also knew someone who worked as a nurse part time in the clinic and he gave some really good reviews, said he has seen very few complications and that they really push good post surgical care. I don't know if there would be any way to check the accuracy of the information they give you, but I would research online as much as you can.