I am fixing to have lap band surgery, I have heard some good news about my dr. and some bad news. Bad news was six deaths, which I was told to get his license and look on the interent, also local site for where I am at a woman was asking anyone from our area if they had complications from this doctor to email her, she is having complications.....I want this surgery so bad, but now I am so very leary......what do I do

I agree Leatha, I ask that question along with tons of others. My doctor didn't hesitate to tell me an answer to any of the questions I ask, and believe me, I had two full pages of questions. In fact he answered half of them before I had to ask.

You are going through major surgery people, please check your doctor out well before going in, know exactly what is going to happen to you. I was in my first meeting with my doctor and his staff for 2 1/2 hours and if I had any more questions I would have been in there longer. Don't rush into anything before you know the facts. Do tons of research, don't just take someones word for it, look it up. The internet has so much valuable information on it, and well worth the time spent doing it. This is your life, I can't stress enough to know everything about the surgery and the doctor before you go into it.

It was extremely comforting to me to hear that my surgeons, who do mostly bypass, had only had 2 deaths with that surgery and no real complications with the band. Sometimes it is difficult to get straight facts, but it is important to ask the questions to set our minds at ease.

Hi...This is midnite blue.....well how do we find out what his death rate is.....I talked with a lady who works in his office and she said their is no deaths...then the nurse said one death 74 year old with complications....so who has the right answer......gee I am lost to this one....to late to change doctors in the middle...anyone got any ideas??????????????????

I am fully aware about the panic that is started. These are NOT actual facts. I have heard about the 1 death that was not band related; she was 74 and had complications from the surgery. If he did have deaths that were done during the surgery and yours is done.....then you don't have anything to worry about. If you aren't having any problems then what is the panic? He isn't going to kill you by doing a fill. I am not changing Dr's. Dr Spivak was the one covering for Dr Spiegel while he was on vacation. Dr Spivak's nurse and Spiegel's nurse were not totally on top of things when I called and asked if he could take the fill out. When I talked to Spivak personally he told me to come on up there and he could get it taken out. I went and he was in surgery and the nurse tried three or four times to get my port and was unable to, so she sent me to Park Plaza Medical Center and they did it under fluro. I am not changing Dr's. My Dr is still Spiegel. I hope this clears things up. I am not one to believe in he said she said crap. If the deaths were true I am sure that they had to be reported and he would have lawsuits out the yazoo. And as small as this area is wouldn't the news and newspapers get a whole of this????

I don't know if I helped much.....but that is my 2 cents.....

P.S. One of the girls that works in his office was just banded by him and another is being banded next week......if u worked for him and knew that he had killed 6 people would u let him touch u????

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I'm not sure how you find out, but I called the hospital where I was having the procedure done and the hospital told me they had had six weight loss surgery deaths in the past year, but it's a hospital where a high number of these operations are performed (mostly bypass) and that was a very low statistic. Remember, gastric bypass operations actually have something like a 1 to 2% chance of death, which means out of every one hundred patients who get this, one to two will likely die! I would find it hard to believe that the number of deaths you were told are band-related since it's really quite a safe operation. Most of the band related deaths I've heard of (a total of two, in the media) occurred well after the surgery and were related to improper band placement, etc. If a large number of people are getting the band and dying during surgery, I'd say the most likely culprit would be the anesthesiologist! That's not to say there's no risk from the band (like inadvertent tears and punctures) but six just doesn't sound right.

Maybe the hospital would have information for you?

I am only going by what I heard.....which scared me out of my wits totally..and anyone would question anything if you hear something like that....and would want to do a follow up on it to see what is correct and which isn't . NO one says to change doctors....at least I havent read where anyone said to....But to just make sure the rumor is just a rumor and nothing more......

No reason to be upset....or mean......

NOT yet banded......

Perhaps Dr. Spiegel could come on here and clarify this. I know his office came on LBT once before when there were patient complaints posted here about office incompetence. Patients do have the right to know what's going on and how this could affect their care.

If you are referring to me; I am very sorry if I sounded mean and I am not upset at all. The reason that I said I wasn't changing Dr's is because someone asked me if I was....and I was just telling everyone. I just don't want to see a Dr's reputation ruined by rumors. I think that he is a very competant surgeon and I trust him. But, just because I do don't mean that everyone should. I wish you the best of luck and try and see if you can contact inamed and see what they tell you.

hi i am a patient of dr. speigel and i also work for him in the port neches office i had the lap band placed on janurary 13, 2004. The rumors concerning dr. spiegel having killed patients or put in the lap bands wrong are false. I would never have allowed myself to undergo this surgery with Dr. Spiegel for any reason if I felt that he had such a high mortality rate. Beleive me after working here for more than one year I have a very good understanding of patient outcomes. Also, the staff is not just "denying" rumors when someone calls to ask about them. THE RUMORS ARE FALSE! If they were true then I would not be working here.

Hi JJ! Welcome to LBT!

I agree that those rumors were false.

Thanks for coming to set us straight!

Hows the weight loss?

Thing is...unless he's placed AT LEAST 50 bands--successfully--I'd consider him a beginner and wouldn't want him to do my surgery.

As far as deaths are concerned, band-related deaths must be reported to the feds...I'll see if I can remember where. But, maybe he has had non-band-related mortalities.

And, I believe the bypass mortality rate is approximately 1 death out of 200 surgeries.

It always helps to have facts and not rumors.

I 100% agree Marie it is always best to report facts and not rumors. Sometimes, in order to report the facts we have to talk about rumors. Just my opinion.

wow six deaths for one dr. ia a large number. My dr has done close to

3 thousand wls and he has a total of 2 deaths. I would look at seeing another md in your area. Best of luck

Carey:Bunny

hey paula i am doing great have lost 23 pounds in less then 2 months and it is still coming off...i just hope everyone understands that dr. spiegel is a great surgeon and i would not have went anywhere else...so the people need to stop with the rumors because they are so false..thanks again for asking about me paula...