Losing My Lap Band Doctor!!! Help!!!

RoseNewLife · September 4, 2007

Hi all Michigan Lap-Banders!

Well I just found out today that my Lap-Band Doctor, Dr. Zoe Deol, will be moving out of state, and I need to find a new doctor. :faint::think I'm very sad about this, I was looking forward to having Dr. Deol as my surgeon. I have been working all summer on my pre-op doctor visits (I am not yet banded, and I had just one test to go! ) So now . . . I need to find a new Lap-Band doctor, someone I trust to do surgery on me and all the follow up stuff. Dr. Deol's office gave me some referrals: Dr. Krause of Beaumont Hospital (Royal Oak) and Doctors Meguid & Hanasli (I'm not sure I spelled those correctly) of Bon Secours Hospital. Is anyone here familiar with any of these doctors, and maybe had your lap-band surgery performed by them? Any information on a good doctor would be most helpful! I'm really at a lost right now, I've done so much work and research since January of this year, now I need to find a new surgeon I can trust. Please help!!!!!:help:

Is any one else here losing Dr. Deol as well?

faithmd · September 4, 2007

Depends on who your insurance is. Sounds like she gave you referrals to surgeons that it should cover. Double check that first before you choose one of these docs, please. A good place to read about docs is over on obesityhelp.com Do a search for the doc's name and there should be independent patient reviews there. I had considered Deol and Krause as MCare (my insurance) pays for them as well as UM (but they hadn't done a single band yet) and the group at Hurley in Flint. I went to information sessions for each (Krause and Deol and Hurley). I was not happy about the hidden charges that no one told me about in the info session for Deol or Krause. I called their offices later after I read about the "mandatory support group fee" or whatever it was called and they 'fessed up about them. I'm sort of glad now that I didn't go with Deol since she's moving. That makes life sooo tough because lots of surgeons won't touch someone elses' band.

If your insurance pays for Port Huron (Boutt and Bhesania) or Hurley (Obeid, Farhan and Wagner) I'd check them out, too. I don't know alot about the Bon Secours group, or the DMC group. I am fairly happy with the Hurley group.

RoseNewLife · September 5, 2007

Thanks for the info, Faithmd! The website you gave is a terrific one, another excellent source for information. I'm gonna use this a lot. Good place to look up the doctors. My insurance is BCBS, so *most* doctors will accept this, but it's always the very next question (after finding out about a good doctor). I talked to Dr. Deol yesterday after I wrote my above message, and she highly recommended Doctor Meguid of Bon Secours Hospital (she learned everything she knows from him), and he was accepting all of her patients. (I don't have any info about accepting new patients from Dr. Krause yet). Both accept my insurance though. The groups in Flint and Port Huron would really be too far for me (I'm near Pontiac). I won't go to DMC ever 'cus I used to work there for 10 years. It would just feel funny, lol. Anyway, a new option has opened up as well . . . Dr. Deol says there may be a new group coming in to take over her practice. She's not meeting with them until next Monday, so I will talk to her on the following Tuesday, and see if this new group will work for me. I look for experience and personality in a doctor first (as well as insurance). It's a pain to have to switch doctors right now, plus I will just miss Dr. Deol a lot. She is a great person to talk to, plus she kept on top of the latest in lap-band technology. I just hope I can find a good doctor to replace her! I am not banded yet, so at least I don't have to worry about another doctor not accepting a "strange" band.

thanks again for your help!

Karen2539 · September 5, 2007

HI Rose Wolf,

I was disappointed too yesterday when I heard that Dr. Deol was leaving for Chicago. It sounds like an opportunity she just could not turn down. I was wondering about the doctors she mentioned also. Being from Commerce Twp, I thought Port Huron was too far to go... although, I did entertain the thought of going to Chicago for my visits, but realize that is just impossible.

Once you find a doctor you really trust and have an report with you just don't want to change. If you hear about another doctor willing to take over her practice.... let us know. Otherwise, it is on to trying to find a new doctor.

Karen

faithmd · September 5, 2007

Port Huron, while a drive, it an EXCELLENT group. Lots and lots of people here travel at least three hours, and many more than that to see their doctor. But you do have to weigh out the pros and the cons for you. If my insurance had paid for PH, that's where I would have gone.

I live near A2 and go to Flint (and would have gladly driven to PH) even though it is farther than any of the Metro Detroit groups because of what I learned about the surgeons and the practice. Please don't let closeness be your determining factor.

I totally understand about ot wanting to go where you have or do earn your paycheck. That's one of the reasons I didn't choose UM.

Karen2539 · September 5, 2007

Faithmd, just wondering...have you been to PH? I just want to get all the information I can before deciding on a new doctor. I have heard others on this forum talk about their doctors in PH and wondered just what it was about them they really liked.

BandZski · September 6, 2007

Hi all Michigan Lap-Banders!
Well I just found out today that my Lap-Band Doctor, Dr. Zoe Deol, will be moving out of state, and I need to find a new doctor. :faint::think I'm very sad about this, I was looking forward to having Dr. Deol as my surgeon. I have been working all summer on my pre-op doctor visits (I am not yet banded, and I had just one test to go! ) So now . . . I need to find a new Lap-Band doctor, someone I trust to do surgery on me and all the follow up stuff. Dr. Deol's office gave me some referrals: Dr. Krause of Beaumont Hospital (Royal Oak) and Doctors Meguid & Hanasli (I'm not sure I spelled those correctly) of Bon Secours Hospital. Is anyone here familiar with any of these doctors, and maybe had your lap-band surgery performed by them? Any information on a good doctor would be most helpful! I'm really at a lost right now, I've done so much work and research since January of this year, now I need to find a new surgeon I can trust. Please help!!!!!:help:

Is any one else here losing Dr. Deol as well?

Oh my gosh Rose, I feel so bad for you. I just got in under the wire with Dr. Deol. I bet I was one of her last surgeries. It took me 10 months from the time I decided to get the band till surgery. I would have gone nuts if she told me she was leaving before my surgery, after all that testing.

Good luck to you. I hope you get your band soon!

Teachlady · September 11, 2007

DH and I travel 4 hours one way to get to Port Huron. We were banded by Dr. Bhesania and swear by him and the staff there. We can not recommend them highly enough. Exceptional pre and post care. It is worth the drive for us to have the best and Port Huron is a center of Excellence. Dr. Bhesania and Dr. Bout have done over 1700 lap band surgeries. They are extremely competent.

Mary-2b150 · September 18, 2007

I am so thankful that I slipped by as well - august 20th - I guess the week before her last surgeries!! I would be so upset if I had gone through all that and had to find someone else - I am so sorry you had to go through that, Rosewolf!! I posted some commentary on the two doctors - mcguid and hawasli (or however you spell it), on one of the other threads.. they were my mother's lap-band doctors.. let me know if you have any specific questions though and I can ask my mother. Sounds like Port huron is greatly reviewed - I would really think about giving them a try. Chicago is actually closer for me than port huron, so I might wait until Dr. Deol's practice is set up and go out there, but my mother (who lives out by mt. clemens) is going to probably switch to port huron.

Goodluck to everyone going through this!

BandZski · September 19, 2007

DH and I travel 4 hours one way to get to Port Huron. We were banded by Dr. Bhesania and swear by him and the staff there. We can not recommend them highly enough. Exceptional pre and post care. It is worth the drive for us to have the best and Port Huron is a center of Excellence. Dr. Bhesania and Dr. Bout have done over 1700 lap band surgeries. They are extremely competent.

Wow! 1700 lap bands.... I think I'll go to Port Huron. It will be about 45 minutes to drive to PH, but I'm now driving 35 minutes to Dr. Deol's.