Especially, for newbies, lurkers, or other passers-by...

IMHO there is no reason to use any of the referral services you find online. They act as liasons, for a hidden fee, and often slow down communication between you and your doctor.

The established Mexican doctors have English-speaking personnel in the office and many of the doctors themselves speak English. I have heard patients compare prices, and it is my guess that a "representative" makes from $1000-2000 per patient, depending on services included.

This is nonsense. And, yes, I speak enough Spanish to make a point in Spanish, but I'd feel the same if the country next door were speaking Danish. (And I know only one, really great cussword in Danish.)

These paid promoters (most, but not all, are band patients) are unnecessary. Save your money and your sanity and call the doctors yourself. If they don't have a system in place which can serve your language needs, go elsewhere. The next guy will.

Good Luck!

Sue

Originally posted by DeLarla

Hey, my friends are bilingual and they'll translate for a 6-pack.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Bugging out now... EEK.

Oh, my! My cousins Chuey, Flaca, Huero and Prieta have moved into your neighborhood. If they get out a piñata and a baseball bat, take cover.

the person who is on the doctor's payroll to talk you into ANY surgery (there are advisors at plastic surgeons' offices all over this country), is the one least likely to have your needs at the top of their list.

Sue, I completely agree with this and thank you for creating the opportunity to highlight it. My point was that as long as this is understood, things can proceed accordingly. No one should ever think that these people are disinterested patients' advocates.

When I said "protect me from my own ignorance" the last three words are the crucial point. A smart consumer would want to speak with more than one of these U.S. liaisons, learning about different doctors so the comparisons can be made. Just because they're on the payroll doesn't mean everything they say is untrue, far from it.

Hiring an independent translator is also a hit-or-miss proposition. How does one find a translator familiar with the Lapband? The Yellow Pages? Actually, the answer to that question is probably "yes." Still, I'd be comfortable with someone whose agenda is clear to me, and who is presumably going to be available to me through the whole process.

I'm not arguing with you. There certainly are good reasons to go directly to the source. I'm just saying that it doesn't necessarily follow that a paid liaison is not worth the money. Understanding that the liaisons are salespeople is the important thing. And of course, if they fall down on the job there is every reason to be angry and disappointed.

Sue, you slay me!

I learned about the band from a friend who had it done directly through the surgeon's office. I never heard of these "coordinators" or websites till after my surgery. But I do remember several of the girls that had surgery in the same hospital, and they kept wondering "where's the coordinator." I was in Mexico for 3 days and never saw one.... just my observation, which is one single incident, but it sticks out in my head till this day because a couple girls really, really wanted to see their coordinators, who were supposed to be there for them but weren't.

Yap, why use referral services? And only work for Coordinators if they work directly for the doctor, meaning they are on the staff.

I went to Mexico without knowing a lick of spanish, and I had no problem getting around at all.

I can't resist, I gotta jump in here! I had a co-ordinator, yep I knew she was being paid. I was comfortable with her for all the reasons Alex cited. I was scared to go out of the US, didn't know a lick of Spanish, and somehow felt safe with an American rep.

She was very helpful to me and everything went just as she said it would. She was also there in Monterrey when I had surgery.

BUT, if I knew then what I know now, I would have saved that money and called direct! I could have done everything for myself, and I just didn't have that confidence at the right time. Sue, you are right on with that, for the benefit of those doing research, call direct!

The problems with lacking aftercare lies with the Doctors, not their liasons. If a doc is a good, he'll take care of his patients. If he stinks, he ignores the problems and hope they go away! This forum tells potential patients the real story about the good surgeons and no good rotten stinking ones to avoid!

Well...you can call the doctor's office directly, or you can ask us. Or you can look through the posts. I'm pretty sure that some of the paid recruiters (carnival barkers?) are:

Diane Lee Beck from Lopez Corvala

Anita from Lopez Corvala

Sandy Johnston from Ortiz

Robyn from Ortiz (I think she is no longer with him)

Belighter.com seems to be a referral service for a number of doctors and the ILOST team has some of the same staff. I'm not sure, but I think most coordinators are commissioned.

I know that Ann Marie of Belighter.com refers patients to several Mexican doctors including Lopez, Ortiz, and Rumbaut. She does not refer patients to Kuri.

Just ask the person you're talking to directly, "are you the doctor's nurse or receptionist, or are you his liason, facilitator, coordinator (they use all sorts of titles)?

Keep asking around here and you'll get all the info you need (and a bunch you don't.)

Good luck!

I was just banded by Dr Lopez and used a coordinator, Now having the coordinator comforted me in many ways. But They di unfortunately have to be pushed for all the info I needed to be prepared.

I can say this, I found that the price I paid was the same as the folks who called the Dr office directly so a mark up, if it was happening is no longer. There was a group of 6 of us 3 came through a referal source in the US who gave us that info upfront. The other 3 contacted Lopez's office directly, they paid the same cost we did and yet the three who came through the referal sources were put in larger suite style hospital rooms with outside patios. The ones who called the Dr office directly were put in rooms with one window and had to go down stairs to get outside.

I am not saying that wasnt jsut coincidence but hey, the price was the same for all and we all had the same procedure. I think if a coordinator can ensure you get all the pre-op info you need and schedule your pick ups and testing great it made me feel very comfortable talking to someone who had been through the procedure and helped to elivate a lot of skeptesizm (SP) about doing something this big outside the country.

After my experience and what we saw as draw backs, my husband documented every step of the process fro first contact to other patient experience, my procedure and experience, medications and the number of time the doctors talked to us. As well as the neutritionist and psychologist thye sent in. We are thinking of building a site dedicated to the lap band out of country process and documenting everything, offering direct Dr contacts or working with people to help them get set up.

This was the best thing I could have done for myself and hate seeing the options for people to get there to do this get bashed. So many people really need this surgery and with the US Insurance "Idiot" I'm sorry but I am disgusted with them, seeing posts like this that discourage the option of referal I think pushes people that need it away. If you look, it is hard to find direct contacts for these Doctors, we tried at first and all we could find was referal agencies.

So I think however someone gets there is great if they need it. Just my opionion I am not trying to bash or downgrade anyone. Thanks,