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Surgeon TestimonialCharles Ferguson, M.D.I absolutely adore Dr. Ferguson. He is a wonderful, friendly, kind, funny man. Not to mention an amazingly skilled surgeon. He was all over the local press for a while this year because of a high-profile lawsuit, which was going on during the time of my presurgical process, which resulted in some postponements in my surgery. This caused me some frustration, but it never caused me to doubt his abilities, and thankfully (and justly) he prevailed in the courtroom. rnrnI sailed through surgery thanks to his skill and I'm so grateful to him that I'm on the other side of this process and can now start my new life!rnrnSince he also represents the MGH Weight Center here, I'll mention that as well. As a weight management center, they are superb. They offer top-notch medical care there. I highly recommend them. Not only do they have the best in their fields working there, they are on the cutting edge of obesity research thanks to their leader, Dr. Lee Kaplan. They are simply the best. rnrnAs a medical office, they leave much to be desired. I, and many people I have talked to, have had many difficulties with office staff: Rudeness, unreturned phone calls, scheduling problems, billing issues, etc. They just don't seem very competent. That being said, I wouldn't let that stop me from going there. I go there for medical care, and I'm not going to get better care elsewhere. Their program is simply the best around. The other stuff is frustrating and dampens the experience somewhat, but I had the best surgeon one could have and excellent care so I've done with griping. Hopefully they'll straighten out those snags and make the experience there more pleasant and a little less frustrating. The positives by far outweigh the negatives.rnrnSo there it is, the good and the bad. Definitely don't let the bad scare you off. It seems frustrating at the time, but anything you have to put up with is so worth it for the security of knowing that you have the best medical minds and surgical hands caring for you. I highly recommend both Dr. Ferguson and the MGH Weight Center.rn |
My Surgeon On Trial on July 20, 2007 11:38 am
It's been all over the news here. It's on ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the National News: Charlie Weis, former assistant coach of the New England Patriots, current coach of Notre Dame, is suing the surgeon who performed his gastric bypass. That surgeon, Charles Ferguson, happens to be the surgeon who will be performing my surgery in a little over 6 weeks.
The surgery was performed at Mass General here in Boston where I live, so the news coverage here has been more intense than elsewhere. Then again, I have a pretty vested interest in the story. If you believe the news coverage, this fiendish butcher, wielding a stapler that he bought for a $1.99 from Office Depot, hacked poor Charlie's insides to pieces, then went vacationing on the Vineyard, leaving Weis to bleed to death in the hands of uncaring doctors who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground.
None of the media remember to mention the part where Weis wanted next-day surgery. Because of his status, it seems that he was allowed to bypass (pun intended) all of the required preliminary testing and dieting and counseling and waiting that us regular folk are subjected to. I first requested my PCP for a referral in December, 2006. My surgery is scheduled for September, 2007 (rescheduled from August to September thanks to Mr. Weis' lawsuit, thanks Charlie). That's a waiting time of 10 months. That's pretty average. And I'm fortunate enough to not have insurance hassles. Some people wait a lot longer.
I also expect to have to sign a lot of waivers explaining that internal bleeding is a possible complication of gastrointestinal surgery, as are respiratory problems, complications from anesthesia, death, etc., all possible risks of surgery.
I read in several of the news articles that Mr. Weis is quoted as calling himself a stupid ass, or words to that effect, because he had weight loss surgery. He's not a stupid ass for having weight loss surgery. He's a stupid ass for thinking that WLS is a risk-free, easy and fast fix to a complicated problem. If he had done any research into surgery as a reasonable solution for his problem, he would have known that there is a statistical chance of risk, which increases pretty significantly with every comorbidity. The sicker you are going in, the likelier you are have problems coming out. One person in every 500 or so is going to have a problem. He drew that short straw. Bad luck. Get over it. He survived. Some don't.
I feel bad that Mr. Weis got sick, as I would feel bad for anyone else who got sick. It's a known complication of the surgery. I don't believe the surgeons were negligent. Maybe if Charlie had had to wait 10 months for surgery and go through the same preoperative program that I, and all the other patients have to go through, things might have turned out very differently for him. I think the only mistake the doctors made was in accepting him as a patient in the first place.
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Surgery Date Bumped on July 10, 2007 11:23 am
I'm so frustrated. I got a call from the surgery center yesterday. They moved my surgery date out 2 weeks. I know 2 weeks is no big deal, but I was getting myself psyched for my date and I'm really disappointed to have it moved.
I was thrilled when July came around so that I could say that my surgery was 'next month'. Now that's gone. It's now 2 months out. 
I just hope they don't move it back again. They said that there was a slim chance that I could still have my original date, but most likely it will be moved. They'd better not jerk me around and keep moving it.
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