"Douglas Smego, M.D. (Stamford, CT)
Dr. Smego came highly recommended by my PCP. My first impression of him was good. I attended an informational group session he held at the local hospital (which he requires you to go to before scheduling an appointment with him)for people considering WLS. He was very clear about the process, and what needed to be done step by step. He also was very clear that he prefers to do the Lap-Band as opposed to the Bypass because of the lower risks. He will do Lap-Band Laporscopically (sp?), but only does open surgery for the bypass (he says it takes too long to be done lap and he dosent like his patients to be under for that long). He then opened the floor to Q&A and seemed very honest with all the answers (including the one about how many people did he lose since starting to perform these surgeries) He said he only lost one person. His office was very nice. JoAnn is my favorite person there and the one who I have been dealing with throughout this whole thing. She did everything with the insurance (I had to do nothing) and was very nice when I called her every week to find out the status of the insurance, or for any other little question I had to ask, although I could tell she was very busy. Overall...things so far have been great!"
"Dr. Neuberger has been my Doctor for many years, and although I find him very "conservitive" with taking drastic measures, he took the time to listen to me about wanting the surgery and treated this decision very seriously. He is not one to allow me to "jump" into anything without trying other methods first (which we did...Xenical, Meridia). I was actually surprised that he said "yes" so quickly, but he has long known my struggle with weight. He did say, though, that if I was going to have it done, he would insist that Dr. Smego do the surgery. He had a recommendation letter ready for me in about 3 days after speaking with him."
