Barry Greene Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

My first consult with Dr. Green was very rushed and Dr. Green was in and out. My pre-op appt went very well Dr. Green was very warm and did not rush me--and his waiting room was packed. I left feeling very comfortable. Julia has been very kind--she is very busy and needs help . Jeanne is great--she is a sweetheart!

I was very impresssed with Dr Greene. He is very approchable and eagar to answer all and any questions you may have.


My inital impression still stands

Very approchable, overwhelmed with the amount of patients.A good effort is made to help all.




Vetry much protocal is to remain in support group for years after surgey.
Yes

Yes, over and over again.


10

both

My first impression of Dr. Greene was that he was very serious and intense. He doesn't smile much and can be a little intimidating. He is very busy and walks out of the room while you still have questions. Not unusual to wait 2-3 hrs. to see him. He takes on more patients than he has time for. He is very honest about surgery risks but since he is new at bariatric surgery, he doesn't have statistics on his long-term success.

He doesn't use an office where you can sit down across a desk from him but rather you sit up on an exam table to ask him questions. I found it hard to get up on the table and even harder to juggle a pen, paper, and my briefcase where I had papers I needed to give him and questions I wanted to ask. He took the question sheet from me and read the questions himself.

Dr. Greene doesn't have a web site. He has no booklet of comprehensive information to give patients which would explain things such as the type of surgery, pre-surgery test and meds, after-surgery diet, his own educational and medical background, etc. When I asked his assistant for a copy of Dr. Greene's C.V., Julia seemed insulted and said they don't give that out to patients.

His staff is very kind and considerate, but like Dr. Greene, they are very rushed and overcommitted. I felt like I was one cow in a herd of cattle or one piece passing through a factory assembly line.

You cannot talk to Dr. Greene by email or phone. Everything goes through Julia. Julia sometimes doesn't return calls for several days, if at all. Some information you get is contradictory or unclear. You can ask Julia to do something but she won't let you know if she did it, nor does she follow up on something once she gives it to Dr. Greene to answer. She takes a very long time to submit insurance requests, keeps promising she'll do it tomorrow or next week. She took a week to let me know after I was approved by insurance. She gave me a surgery date over 7 weeks in the future after my insurance approval date.

Dr. Greene emphasizes aftercare and attends patient support group meetings twice a month. He gives a presentation there for new patients and answers questions.

More nutritionists that Dr. Greene recommends should be more knowledgable about bariatric surgery and its nutritional consequences.

If I have to choose between surgical competence and bedside manner, I would choose surgical competence, which is why I am sticking with Dr. Greene.

Recommended Disclaimer: These are my personal opinions about my experience with this surgeon and his staff. Others' experience and impressions will differ.

Good Dr. very knowledgeable

I realy began to trust him

Julia, his assistant was a little slow in getting back to me but it was only because she is very over whelmed

She is over worked

He is a wonderful Dr.

Greatly

Yes

I had to take a true or false quiz to make sure I understood everything and what I didn't he discussed eith me

Excellent

surgical

My first impression of Dr. Green was hey this man holds no contempt for heavy people. He seems very sincere in him wanting to help me and others like me. He did not criticise me in anyway and made me feel so comfortable and at ease. I look forward to our future meetings during my progress with with surgery. His staff was very nice and courteous., I didnt find anything that I disliked about him. He discribed the surgery procedure very clearly told me of the risk and sent me home with the information and packet I have to follow. He said he wants to bond with me and make sure I understand everything very perfectly because I am putting my life in his hands and he wants to make sure I am comfortable with him as well. Havent had surgery as of yet but i look forward to this adventure and outcome.

I met Dr greene at a support group meeting and I liked the way he spoke. I sought him out and spoke with him afterwards and I was impressed that he looked me in the eye and spoke to me like I mattered. I was a little put off by the office presentation His coordinator gave a talk to about 5 of us then we got to see the doctor 1 by 1 I had to wait about 3 hours in the office but once he got to me he really took his time he looked over all the records I brought and asked why I picked him because I had originally picked Joseph Afram in Washington. I explained it was an insurance thing and he said that was fine. He was great at explaining why he would want to bypass a little more on me (because my BMI is now 50 and he wanted this to give me the amount of weight loss I was expecting. Office coordinator was hesitant about giving me a date because I still had pre op stuff to do and they like to wait until all that is done and you have aproval before giving you a date I assured her zI would have her ALL test resaults within the next two weeks and she gave me a date. So far she has stuck to the date and I have made sure she has evry test resault she needs. Approval was already done when I went to see Dr Greene. Surgery will be on August 27th 2002 Yeah!!

very skill for avery young doctor. i was able to communicate with him at ease. office staff very nica and informative. never disliked him. listen to what he has to say to you, it is very important. his after care approach is the best i have ever seen. his after care program is very important. he addresses the ricks of surgery very plainly so can understand. he is very easy to work with, and has a very understanding of a patients concerns. surgical and bedside manners are very important to me.

I had my surgery July 9th 2002. I weighed 355 pounds and I was 5'8.

Doc Greene is an excellent surgeon and he put me at ease. I am very happy with the results and I am even more happy that I got my surgery done LAP.

It is true that his office is too busy. As a pre-op, I felt very overwhelmed sometimes. I have friends that are patients of Doc Greene and are also pre-op, and I feel so bad that they feel helpless at times, especially when waiting for insurance approval. And if you are denied, it is true that you are kind of left wondering, well what next? Thank GOD united healthcare covered me right away.

I think that their practice is new and that they are experiencing growing pains. This makes things tense on the office people, and Doc Greene at times. But I honestly must say that he has always been extremely professional. Julia, the office manager, has her "moments". She is nice at times and short at others, but i think she means well. Jeannie, who is now working with Doc Greene part time, is a lovely person with many years of experience dealing with insurance companies and she is an RN>so she knows the ins and outs and I think that she was a benefit to add to his team. Pat the secretary is a hoot.

The most important thing that I want to mention is the difference I felt post op when dealing with the office staff. I feel so much more at ease with them.

I think the reason why people get so upset with them pre -op is that they may not have the answers, the paperwork isnt filed when you want it to be or even when it should be at times. I kbnow I felt this way. You have been waiting forever to be thin or healthy and it is your life that these people are holding in their hands. Pre op is the most stressful time in your life, and when you dont get the answers when you want or when you should, it is very overwhelming. I feel for all of you guys. You will get this surgery, god willing.When you look back at all of the waiting and crying and pressure, it would have all been worth it!

I have been looking at RNY surgery for over a year now and have looked at a number of surgeons along with my wife who is also having RNY surgery.
She is scheduled for late September and mine is on Halloween.
I am very impressed with Dr. Greene and his ability from his other patients that I have met. One of his paitence is my own mother-in-law.
There is one huge drawback though. His assistant has to be one of the most incompetent health care persons I have ever met. She has delayed getting insurance approval by nearly a month which has caused me to have to put off my surgery for nearly two months from my work commitments. I explained that I was working with a "window of opportunity" and she should not delay when she had what she needed for an approval.I had been on her from the word go that timing was critical but she delayed with many excuses. Being told it will be "worked on tomorrow" is very frustrating when it goes on for nearly a month. I cant stand to be lied to.
So now I am delayed by her and am stuck for an extra two months in a job that I am discriminated in about my weight as well as my race. I am intending on moving on to greener pastures when I am three months post-op. Now it will just drag on longer.
I recommend Dr. Greene to anyone but from my dealings and the encounters of others who have the exact same problem with JH (I wont list her name), I surely hope for the future sake of his practice he finds a more competent assistant. Noone should have to go through this process this way.

I went to my initial consultation with Dr. Greene on July 23, 2002. Getting this appointment was so much easier than I thought it would be. At the office, I got to meet Pat and she is just as nice in person as she is on the phone. I also met Julia (I'd seen her at the two support group meetings I'd attended, but never spoke to her). She's a gem as well. After filling out the paperwork I was supposed to have received prior to the appointment (these things happen), Julia weighed me (ugh) and then my friend (who is also trying to get approved) and I were treated to a PowerPoint presentation by Julia. It was basically the same stuff Dr. Greene had shown us at the last meeting, but at least we could ask questions and make comments this time. It was a good thing! Finally got to meet Dr. Greene. He was a little reserved, but very kind and easy to talk to. He says I'm a good candidate for this surgery. Woo hoo. I left with two samples of protein shakes, and a handful of prescription slips for all the pre-op tests and things. I was there from 2:30-6:00 (there were two of us going through this, so that included the waiting time for my friend). I felt like I was given great information and really liked the doctor and his staff. I think I'm in very good hands.