Help! My surgeon just went out on leave. What should I do?

[Tanette 69]

Hello everyone I am new to this site. I have a question though. I have finished all of my requirements for the surgery besides, seeing the nutritionist next month and losing the 15lbs. I'm at a point of excitement and I'm ready to see my surgeon. The first consultation I had was with her Nurse Practitioner, however it was suppose to be with her but she wasn't in. I let that slide. Now I'm stuck again because she is out on leave. No one has returned my calls and I'm worried about getting surgery done from her because she is never around. My surgery is suppose to be done at John Hopkins Bayview Hospital in Baltimore MD. I requested to see another surgeon there and they said they would get back to me as well. It's been about 2 weeks since I spoke with my surgeons assistant and a week since I spoke with the other surgeons assistant. Would you guys suggest I go to another hospital for a different surgeon? Is this at all possible for me to do? Will I have to redo all the requirements again? Or will they be able to use the results from everything I did for the original surgeon I was going to use? I hope you all can help me with my dilemma. Thanks everyone.

[bostonmama 135]

I have to say that my surgeon is also almost never around, and office staff is slow to respond to me as well. My surgeon only comes in to the office on Wednesdays , and that is also the day he does all of his surgeries, 2-3 per Wednesday. It took me 6 weeks to get an appointment and once they cancelled and it took another 6 weeks to reschedule. A huge pain but my PCP highly highly recommends this surgeon so I never considered trying to find someone else. If I were you, and your surgeon is a good one, I would just wait out the leave (how long is it)? You have to wait to see the NUT , then insurance approval anyway. I would call again though, 2 weeks is too long to wait for a callback imo.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I would say if you are not comfortable to look for a new surgeon. You should not have to be put on hold or not called back. As far as having to redo all the paperwork, that would be a question i would ask your insurance company what would happen.

they might even have some suggestions for you.

Best of luck and I hope everything works out so you can put this surgery behind you and move on to your new future!