Dr Kim and Dr Nicholson indicted. It's on WFAA in Dallas.

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I saw that!! I am a private pay customer and they are suppose to be good for private pay since it's all inclusive. Luckily I went with another doctor that a friend referred!

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Unfortunately my Dr. joined his practice this year but don't see him on the list. My surgery is a week from today. Can't say it is a surprise though. Went thru my insurance and had started this process last year with Dr.Castro so went back since I had done most of it last year.

I saw that!! I am a private pay customer and they are suppose to be good for private pay since it's all inclusive. Luckily I went with another doctor that a friend referred!

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Who did you go with

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Glad I chose a different dr

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I saw

@@kblanc I went with Dr. Michael Green out of Ft. Worth.

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Shame, shame, shame. A $250k fine is chump change though! It's amazing that I keep seeing Dr. Kim and Dr. Nicholson come up in various scandals. Dr. Kim has been sued by patients more than once, I do believe. I know one guy had his vena cava sewed shut and lost both of his legs. I think another gal died from anesthesia and it was ruled as having been preventable since she was showing signs of not handling it well or something like that.

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Wow. I had a consultation with dr Kim bariatric and I chose not to based on previous lawsuits they had and also they're very far away. Good thing I chose a different doctor.

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@@amethyst391 Glad you did research before committing! I'm pretty sure a LOT of people don't! I heard talk while I was in the hospital about how he's more or less running a factory for wls. I commented to one of the pre op test folks about why I chose the surgeon I did. He asked me who else I considered. I told him I looked into Dr. Kim, but the guy losing his legs scared me. The guy was like, "oh, you heard about that, did you?" I told him it came up easily when I Googled! He said they (the pre op testing folks) keep their opinions about doctors to themselves, but he's glad people can find reviews of doctors on line.

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This is one of my concerns with the "self pay" route. I completely understand that some insurance plans don't cover WLS and there needs to be a self pay option. On the other hand I have seen people:

who are 50-60 pounds over weight getting WLS.

getting questionable "revisions".

choosing self pay because their insurance denied them or required them to "jump through hoops"

Seems like some minimal requirements, like maybe a referral from your primary care provider, Should be required for getting major surgery instead of a credit card with a high spending limit.

There is a thread here started a few days ago by a woman who went to a surgeon for a pre op interview who was told she could have surgery the NEXT DAY if she had the funds.

Another case of greed trumping ethics.

I was one who is denied by insurance and required to jump through hoops. They required 6 months physician supervised dieting and two visits to a psychologist. My doctor was getting ready to put me on medication. Since I already knew I didn't tolerate statins, I was going to self pay to get it done. My secondary, Tricare, stepped up and paid every dime and all that was required was one visit to psychologist and two visits with a nutritionist which could be done in 4-6 weeks. My doctor was booked up that far anyway so it worked out well plus you have to do your pre op testing and diet. I was 80 lbs over, 61 y/o, high BP, high A1C, high cholesterol. Sept 1 was my surgery and today I am 50 lbs down, which includes my 2 week pre op diet. BP down and my primary care said everything else would normalize since it was diet and weight related. They are many people that just dropping off that 50/60 lbs, or less, is enough to get them off their diabetic meds. Several people I know have had bands and have problems with it so sometimes a revision to the sleeve keep their weight off and maintain their health is necessary. My dr was Dr Cribbins in Plano, Texas. My daughter used him as well and was self pay because her insurance had an exclusion for WLS. Yes, you can schedule quicker if they have room on the schedule because of the time it takes going through insurance. Tricare approved me in just a few days. So, that being said, not everyone who has WLS has to weigh 250 lbs or more. Then again, a good surgeon knows who needs the surgery. I had taken one year of medical records from my primary with me to my first appointment. Everyone needs to do their research before choosing a doc!!

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Just a note... The indictment is about financial stuff. Illegal kick backs and possibly insurance fraud. I was going to use Dr Nicholson until my rheumatologist referred me to my surgeon, and I'm very glad because she personalized my treatment and I'm not sure that would happen with a large practice like Kim or Nicholson. So don't think the docs are unsafe just because of this. They may be unsafe for other reasons, I haven't researched Dr Kim, but Dr Nicholson seemed to be pretty good when I was looking at him.

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Yes the article says it was financial. Forest Park was physician owned. I was a patient there for four days and it was a fantastic hospital. So not only did these guys help to take down and close this hospital, they also ripped off their colleagues who had a financial stake there. As an RN that worked in hospitals for 25 years doing patient care and dealing with doctors, I can tell you that any doc who would pull that stuff has zero integrity as a physician. Dr Kim's reputation is well known among the medical community here.

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Financial or not if a dr violates the law their ethics are suspect I wouldn't go to him/her.

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Oh I agree it's unethical and not OK. Just wanted to make the point that this should not be held up as evidence of unsafe practices. There may be other evidence of that, but this isn't it.

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If you live in Texas and are looking for a doctor you can get on the Texas State Medical Board website to see if they have any judgments against them or suspensions etc. You should be able to get on the website of the county you live in and go to civil cases and see any cases filed as far as malpractice, financial , etc. When I worked as a RN Paralegal for a medical malpractice firm, that is where I started when checking out doctors. Since the Feds are after these docs it's serious because insurance fraud is huge.

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