"Dr. M is a rockstar. I did all my "pre-op", including the supervised diet and lengthy insurance approval with a different doc in town and switched at the last minute to Dr. Mortenson- and I'm so glad I did! He is highly intelligent and this comes across in everything he does. A lot of reviewers questioned his bedside manner but I found him to be charming 90% of the time. The other 10% he was just no-nonsense and really, is that so bad in a surgeon?
I have not had any complications as of yet and his office staff is pleasant and competent (which seems to be a rare combination these days). His nurse, Phyllis, will go out of her way to help you and is just a peach of a lady :)
Keep in mind that I went from a doc who was CONSTANTLY late and scattered, complaining about her own life and weight struggles, and with a moronic office staff, to complete competence with Dr. Mortenson and his staff. It might color my perception a bit. (Seriously, I would have to take an entire half day of work off just for a 15 minute appt. with her because she was always so late and her staff would never tell me when I was actually going to see her. I was beyond frustrated by the time I switched docs.)
He didn't really talk to me a whole lot about after-care because he knew I had already been in to see the folks at Benefis Bariatric Institute where they do the nutrition counseling etc. And btw, THAT place could be run a little tighter if you ask me. I recently found out that they are giving out the wrong information about calcium!! (and it wasn't just me, all of my friends and co-workers, about 10 people, who have worked with them were given the same wrong info!)
Bottom line: I would recommend Dr. Mortenson as a bariatric surgeon and even as a general surgeon for other issues, over any other doc in Great Falls, Montana.
I am editing this review 02/27/12. 5 months after RNY, I needed to have my gallbladder out. I spent 6 weeks in excruciating pain, during which time Dr. Mortenson would NOT give me any pain meds, despite a trip to the ER and lots of missed time from work. (In the ER, he said "take a laxative".) His nurse, Phyllis, was rude and downright obstructive when it came to paperwork for my job. She REFUSED to give my messages to Dr. Mortenson and REFUSED to acknowledge that my pain was surgery related- putting in jeopardy my FMLA status. She argued with me numerous times and was quite nasty. For a surgeon that does so many Cholecystectomies and weight-loss surgeries, I find it absurd that it took him 6 weeks and 3 expensive and unnecessary tests to figure out the problem, while forcing me to suffer without relief. Phyllis, the nurse, even went so far as to leave me a message on my cell phone telling me I should change my voicemail greeting because she didn't like it! Talk about night and day experiences...I still think Dr. M is a very good surgeon, but I wouldn't ever go back to him after that last experience, especially with the way Phyllis treated me."
