I am looking for someone that had Dr. Ramos Kelly for their DS

I'm looking for some experiences with having the DS performed by Dr. Kelly. It looks like he's done plenty of sleeves with fantastic reviews so that's a positive. However the DS is the most complicated WLS procedure out there from what I hear. Thank you friends!! I truly appreciate it :)

 

Guessing from the name you are in MN?  If you are you have a choice, Buchwald at the U, and Ikramuddin.  I heard someone is doing DS at Mayo but don't remember the name.  Those are your experienced choices.

Go and click on the "magnifying glass" at the top of the page right next to MY OH. Wright in his name and you will get to see all kinds of information on him, including patient experiences. I didn't figure this out until after my surgery......lol You can search any topic on OH by doing this.

Thanks guys!! I am already scheduled with Dr.Kelly in March. I've searched on OH about him and found many wonderful things. I just haven't seen any comments about patients experience with the DS performed by him.

 

The reason you can't find info about him DS experience is that he doesn't have much. Sleeve yes, DS no, and the "switch" part is the challenging and high risk part of the DS.

The only surgeons most of us would recommend in Mexico are Dr. Ungson or Dr. Aceves. It is NOT too late for you to change your plans, and frankly, I would recommend that you reconsider. Fantastic reviews for a sleeve are meaningless for a DS patient. Would you purchase a Mercedes based on fantastic reviews for a VW Beetle? They're both cars, just like the sleeve and the DS are both bariatric surgeries, right? I didn't think so.

The DS does include a sleeve but it is far more. You are so right that it's the most complicated wls procedure, and you need a surgeon who does it on a regular basis. The one you have chosen isn't that surgeon. Please reconsider.

Larra

RUN. RUN. RUN! I had what was supposed to be a DS with Dr Ramos Kelly in March of 2013. Immediately after having the surgery we began asking for copies of the surgery report to take home to PCP to include sleeve size, channel length etc. They were completely uncooperative in this respect and to this day I have been unable to receive a copy of the surgical report.

Upon further investigation, I found out DR=r. Kelly did not even perform the surgery, but sub-contracted it out! WOW. While this may be a good thing for my health, it was not what was anticipated. Further, the day after the surgery we took a very bumpy ride to the "real" hospital for the swallow test; we were "snuck in the back door" and the technician rushed me in, did the test and the DR. Kelly handed him some cash and we snuck back out the back door. On the way back to Hospital Oases we stopped "in the middle of the street" and a guy ran out from in between buildings and handed Dr. Kelly's wife a brown paper bag that was supposedly my pain meds--this guy received a "wad of cash" too.

While I cannot argue with the results -- SW 370 on 3/7/2013 weight now 210, no one in the states wants to touch me medically because we don't know what was done. If you value your sanity, choose a different surgeon.

Chris

I would echo what Larra advised from the rooftops, if I could!! Please go with someone with experience!

I had my original DS 5 years ago. I was one of that surgeons first 30 DS's. After inadequate weight loss and a weight increase, I knew something was amiss, after more than a year of being carb strict and exercising and my weight still not budging and comorbids returning.

Perhaps my original surgeon's technique has changed in the last few years, I'll probably never know. From what I know now, armed with the experience and knowledge of my revision surgeon (who has over 2000 Revision and DS surgeries under his belt) I know that my first DS was not done the way it should've been done for my anatomy. I so wish I would've gone to the more experienced one in the first place!

My understanding is Dr. Ramos Kelly has lost his privileges in many of the hospitals in TJ.  I was very excited to go with him and read a lot of material on him then suddenly it was gone.  My husband has family in TJ and when we lived in San Diego we often went down there for medical and dental work and never had anything strange happen with meds or being snuck in anywhere.  It was as if you went to a US hospital but paid cash.  I would reconsider doing anything outside of a surgeons speciality.  The rules in Mexico are very different and they don't have to do what you think you are getting.  I decided to continue working with my insurance company here and am getting surgery this summer.  I was also told by Kaiser they would not be able to work with me for surgery done in Mexico and OHSU said the same thing.  Be very careful.  If you look at the posts about Ramos Kelly you will see they are old and dated.  Also look at his morality rate.  Not the best.

pdx, I would suggest that you contact whatever agency regulates HMO's in your state and ask if it is legal for an HMO to not take care of you after surgery in a foreign country. I could see where OHSU could say that, but i'm not so sure about an HMO. I'm not an attorney so I'm not sure about this, but it's certainly something you can ask about.

 

To KoryMN, the OP, I hope you are getting the message about Dr. Kelly. I have nothing at all against medical tourism or Mexico, but things really are different in other countries and you have to be very careful. I'm glad you asked about him here and hope you take the many replies, all negative, seriously. IMHO you are taking a huge risk if you have your surgery with this surgeon. There are excellent DS surgeons in Mexico with solid reputations. The hospitals where they operate also get positive reviews. Stick with them.

Larra