HCA Virginia Health System Bariatric Center

I love Dr. Schroder. He has been wonderful everytime I met him. I began my WLS journey with him just over 3 years ago. He is a big fan of the Lap-Band and offered me information that changed my mind from having the RNY and having the Lap-Band instead. He never said don't get this, he just offered a lot of clincal info showing why he thought the banding was better for me. I am really happy with the decision to have the Lap-Band. He has been really suportive. Seeing him has become much easier now that he has 2 partners in his practice. My surgery in set for July 19th and I know that he will take good care of me! I will report back after the actually surgery and let you know how everything has gone. In the begining I had trouble with getting them to submit my insurance info correctly. Whether it was because of the mistakes or just that Aetna is just cheap and selfish I will never know but I am paying for the surgery myself.

I met with him yesterday, 12/14/06 for my consult. He is very nice and honest. He answered my questions promptly and very straight forward. I could tell he leaned more towards the lapband but did state the decision in the end is one that I will have to make based on what I think is right for me. I have 3 friends who have had the RNY by him and all sing his praises. None of them have had any complications post-op. rn3/28/07-My surgery was 3/26 and I cannot imagine any other surgeon as my doctor. Dr. Schroder is great. He genuinely cares about his patients and he has great bedside manners. He holds your hand and looks you in the eyes when he's talking to you. He's very honest and upfront. rn

In My Own Words from the time of Seminar, to Consult to Now I can See How busy the Office Dr. Schroder has become...and Just how Popular Lap Band really is~! in the Last year especially.!! With that being said at first impression of Dr. S at Seminar I started to like him... he was very Informative with a quick Wit/humor to lighten things up a bit as well..~ And although not banded yet (March 8th..) they seem to have an Effective Aftercare program as well..~ I have personally spoken to a few of his Former Patients and Have Heard Only Excellent reviews and comments and Praises about Surgeon Dr. Schroder.. and I feel my success with him and his staff will Prove to be worth all of the hard work!! Thank You! to Joyce , Deb, Dawn, Megan and everyone..~!

Dr. Brengman has been very nice. I've only met with him once, but will see him again for my pre-op appointment on Feb.1. The staff was great at my first appointment, and things progressed quickly and smoothly. All of the support groups and classes offered by Richmond Surgical Group and St. Mary's hospital is amazing. I look forward to starting my new life soon!

My first impression of Dr. Schroder was that he was very direct and very empathetic. He is definitely a subject matter expert and could answer all of my questions. In the seminar - he seemed very comfortable with the material that he presented to us. As for the office staff, well, I have only dealt with one of the nurses and she seemed to be very attentive to details and wanted very much to get my items in order to send to the insurance company. Now that I have met all the requirements, it seems like the same sense of urgency isn't quite the same. She has been given some additional responsibilities in the office thus I don't feel like my paperwork is on the front burner anymore. Once Cigna gets my paperwork-I have no doubt that they will process it accordingly. Meanwhile I go about my daily life in pain mostly (my knees) and hoping that I don't have anymore accidental falls. I am very nervous and really would feel better if I had a date for surgery. I am trying to stay focused, but each day that I don't hear anything from the doctor's office - makes the tension build. I walk a little everyday to keep moving. My passion is roller-skating - less impactful on the knees, but I am afraid that the wrong fall could make things worse. Just praying for a date for surgery - I will cross the other bridges as I come to them. Overall, I am very comfortable with Dr. Schroder thus far. I believe he is competent and his hands are guided by a much higher authority thus, I know that I am going to be fine.

Had my first consult. and it went fine. He's got a nice demeanor and made me feel very comfortable. His front desk girl was really terrific. I downloaded all their forms off the website and already had them filled out when I called for my first appointment. When I told her this, she got me in sooner! I'm not always organized so I think this taught me a valuable lesson. rn

'Dr. Schroder is both personable and professional. He is an excellent surgeon and is genuinely concerned about all aspects of patient care--from pre-op education to post-op progress. No matter where I see him

He is the best.

I am pleased with Dr Schroder so far. I met him at the seminar and briefly for my first appointment.

My first impression of Dr. Schroder wasn't him, but his office staff. They don't really want to talk to you unless you're already a patient. I scheduled the appointment anyway, since this was the doctor my internist insisted do my surgery.

The first time I saw him, I watched a video, which answered most of my questions, and then he was in and out like a shot...I don't think he spent 5 minutes with me. He said I was a good candidate for the surgery, and then he was walking out the door while I was still asking questions.

After I saw him, I waited to hear from the office about my insurance approval, and they told me they were four to six weeks backed up and wouldn't even send my paperwork in until they caught up. I got really angry, and wrote a letter to Dr. Schroder in which I stated my reasons for going to him, and that I couldn't believe that they were going to wait six weeks to get my paperwork faxed to BC/BS. I got a call two days later saying I was approved and I had a date.

After that, his staff was much more responsive, and things moved along pretty smoothly. They scheduled me for pre-op testing, another office visit and the required classes right away, which was great, but they don't care if you have other things to do on those days...you are expected to drop everything and show up when they tell you to.

The surgery went well, although they did not prepare me for an NG tube, which was really hard to deal with. I had a lot more pain than I expected, but they wouldn't give me enough pain meds because my oxygen sats were too low. I told them if I could take a deep breath without pain my sats would go up, but only the nurse believed me. She gave me more pain medicine and my sats went up...so they agreed to give me more pain meds from then on.

Follow-up has been with the nurse practitioner, and she is awesome (Dawn). I am losing weight rapidly, and they are insisting on supplements, vitamins and excersize, all of which I expected.

Overall, I would rate Dr. Schroder a 9. I think his office staff could have been nicer pre-surgery, and I still have questions I would like to ask him about the surgery itself and the need for the NG tube.

I think his surgical competence is better than his bedside manner, although the day of the pre-op appointment and the day of surgery he was upbeat and positive.

St. Mary's was great - if you're going to be in Richmond, you can't beat it.