A discouraging doctor....need to vent.

[Onmyway301 14]

Hi everyone, I am new here but I have been in my Bariatric program for 8 months of so. I had a surgery date for February 4th however a week before my surgery I went to get cleared by my primary care. My EKG came back normal but she decided to send me to the Cardiologist and have him review my results just incase my surgeon decided something additional would be needed at the last minute. I went to the Cardiologist and after his initial check he said he would clear me. He then asked what kind of surgery I was having and once I told him he responds with "Are you sure you want to do that?" He then decides to look into the labs database at some blood work results I had done over a year ago and said "oh it looks like your cholesterol is elevated....I can't clear you until I give you a stress test." I was furious. Then he says the only open appointment he had for the stress test was on THE SAME DAY AS MY SURGERY. But not before telling me all about a patient he cleared once and they arrested on the operating table.

I went in yesterday for the stress test and passed with flying colors. As I was about to leave he says "I still think this is a radical option for you to take." He promised he would expedite my results and get my results over to my surgeon the same day which didn't happen. I called back today and he had his aid to tell me AGAIN that my cholesterol was elevated and that may cause me to have a heart attack. If that wasn't enough he called me personally after I hung up with his aid and repeated the same thing. I explained that I went over my RESENT results with my primary care yesterday and everything is under control.

This man knew nothing about my struggle with my weight my entire life. All of the different size clothes in my closet, all of the diets and WL programs I have joined. From the start he decided he didn't agree with my decision and took every opportunity to discourage me.

It was at that I realized I had met this doctor about 5 years ago when I accompanied a dear friend to his office at another location. I remember he asked my name and when I told him he said my name was really pretty but I should lose some weight because "my name was too pretty to be overweight "

Needless to say, I will NEVER go to this doctor again. Sorry this is so long. He really upset me with all of this.

Hopefully I will have a new surgery date soon.

Thanks for listening

[chayarg 402]

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time. The chances of someone arresting during wls is extremely low. Do you have a new surgery date yet?

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

[chayarg 402]

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time. The chances of someone arresting during wls is extremely low. Do you have a new surgery date yet?

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Lol just saw you wrote that you are waiting for surgery date.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

[lisafrommassachusetts 319]

Wow. I am so sorry you had to go through all that. I, for one, am completely capable of catastrophizing without some doctor spouting a worst case scenario. I would certainly let your PCP, and your surgeon for that matter, know about this encounter. I was really lucky, because it was my PCP who encouraged me to consider this surgery. He reviewed my destructive 12 + years of yo-yo dieting where I always regained more than I had lost and had the information on the statistically grim likelihood of my dealing with my obesity through diet and exercise alone. He also made sure to tell me this was not a failure of will; we did not evolve to have this abundance of food and are physiologically hardwired for famine and feast. Add in the crazy food we have now (chemicals, added salt and sugar in everything and carbs all day long....) and the obesity crisis makes all the sense in the world. This gem of a doctor obviously would think nothing of "fat shaming" patents, and has not bothered to keep up with the evidence on the efficacy and safety of bariatric surgery. Shame on him. Good luck to you in this journey, and may your medical providers from here on out be at least competent and informed.

[GreenTealael 24,850]

21 minutes ago, Onmyway301 said:

Hi everyone, I am new here but I have been in my Bariatric program for 8 months of so. I had a surgery date for February 4th however a week before my surgery I went to get cleared by my primary care. My EKG came back normal but she decided to send me to the Cardiologist and have him review my results just incase my surgeon decided something additional would be needed at the last minute. I went to the Cardiologist and after his initial check he said he would clear me. He then asked what kind of surgery I was having and once I told him he responds with "Are you sure you want to do that?" He then decides to look into the labs database at some blood work results I had done over a year ago and said "oh it looks like your cholesterol is elevated....I can't clear you until I give you a stress test." I was furious. Then he says the only open appointment he had for the stress test was on THE SAME DAY AS MY SURGERY. But not before telling me all about a patient he cleared once and they arrested on the operating table.

I went in yesterday for the stress test and passed with flying colors. As I was about to leave he says "I still think this is a radical option for you to take." He promised he would expedite my results and get my results over to my surgeon the same day which didn't happen. I called back today and he had his aid to tell me AGAIN that my cholesterol was elevated and that may cause me to have a heart attack. If that wasn't enough he called me personally after I hung up with his aid and repeated the same thing. I explained that I went over my RESENT results with my primary care yesterday and everything is under control.

This man knew nothing about my struggle with my weight my entire life. All of the different size clothes in my closet, all of the diets and WL programs I have joined. From the start he decided he didn't agree with my decision and took every opportunity to discourage me.

It was at that I realized I had met this doctor about 5 years ago when I accompanied a dear friend to his office at another location. I remember he asked my name and when I told him he said my name was really pretty but I should lose some weight because "my name was too pretty to be overweight "

Needless to say, I will NEVER go to this doctor again. Sorry this is so long. He really upset me with all of this.

Hopefully I will have a new surgery date soon.

Thanks for listening

Blast his *** in reviews on on Healthgrades, Google, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, etc

[Recidivist 1,141]

Didn't we all have elevated cholesterol going into this? That sort of goes with the territory when you are obese. By that logic none of us should have been approved for the surgery.

I agree that you should tell your PCP and surgeon about this encounter. Also, is the doctor part of a practice group or hospital? if so, find out whether there is a way to submit a formal complaint against him. You would be doing a favor to future patients.

[Onmyway301 14]

Thank you all for your encouraging words. This mess of a doctor was really a kick in the gut. Thankfully he is not apart of the same practice group or hospital. I'm waiting for him to officially send over my results to my surgeon before I file a formal complaint. I wouldn't want my results to get lost in the mail 🙄

My surgeon is AMAZING and has an excellent bedside manner. Will be giving her a call tomorrow to make sure my results arrived and hopefully have my new date fairly quickly.

[DB in AZ 46]

If you have to, go to the Cardologist office ask for a copy of your results and then take to your surgeon.

[Johanna y 2]

3 hours ago, chayarg said:

Sorry to hear you had such a hard time. The chances of someone arresting during wls is extremely low. Do you have a new surgery date yet?

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Sorry to hear this dr put his awe in when not wanted Chin up onwards and upwards we are both having our ops very soon I hope alls well sending hugs

[catwoman7 10,845]

sorry you had to deal with this jerk.

not all doctors are pro-WLS. The last PCP I had (whom I switched to a couple of years after I had WLS - thank God it wasn't before since I needed a referral from a PCP, and I kinda doubt she would have done it) had some big issue with WLS, I think. After I told her I'd had it, she proceeded to tell me stories of patients she had that gained all their weight back, and another patient she had WLS and lost a crap ton of weight and developed anorexia nervosa. Luckily, this new PCP I switched to a year ago (because the other one retired) is fine with WLS. I just can't work with medical people who have issues with it....and it'd be super awful if I was pre-surgery and had to rely on such people to give referrals and authorizations to have the surgery!

[SupRNurse 0]

We certainly can't compel them to give us clearance and in my experience the more you try and pressure a doctor to do something they're not thrilled with the more entrenched they become. Make sure your program knows that Doctor No is against WLS in principle so they can refer future pts elsewhere. Heard of a PCP once told a 400+ guy that was considering WLS "You don't need surgery you just need to exercise more and eat less." The struggle is real.

[Onmyway301 14]

4 hours ago, SupRNurse said:

We certainly can't compel them to give us clearance and in my experience the more you try and pressure a doctor to do something they're not thrilled with the more entrenched they become. Make sure your program knows that Doctor No is against WLS in principle so they can refer future pts elsewhere. Heard of a PCP once told a 400+ guy that was considering WLS "You don't need surgery you just need to exercise more and eat less." The struggle is real.

That's absolutely insane for any medical professional to say that to anyone. I'm sure we all have a story or tell about rude comments that we've experienced.

I offered to pick up my results yesterday but he told me he needed to upload them into his system first and his office was closing in 30 minutes and I live 40 minutes from his office. This doctor is unbelievable!!

[New&Improved 1,780]

Pretty sure most obese ppl have high cholesterol

[hmills653 365]

That’s horrible, I had already had a stress test prior to getting cardiac clearance but my cardiologist signed the papers wished me luck and I was on my way with the signed paper that I faxed myself and he kept a copy for the records. I had a binder that I kept all papers from doctors, meetings, etc copies of everything. Also I absolutely HATE when a$$holes have the nerve to tell us how we’re so petty we should lose weight!!!!!