Gary Anthone Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

Primary Care Doctor Requested Surgery 1/17/02
Consult approved 1/29/02
Consultation March 4, 2002 (I was able to get in earlier on a cancellation appointment)
Dr. Anthone's office mailed request for surgery 3/13/02
Received by my medical group 3/18/02
Got approval on 3/20/02
Got testing schedule on 4/02/02
Testing scheduled 4/29-5/7/02
Surgery will be scheduled after all testing is complete.

I found doctor Anthone and his staff to be caring, competent, and thorough. From my first visit to postop. My only complaint (and a failry subjective one) is the length of time it took from my first visit to get an actual surgery date.

Given that he is an expert in his field and is in high demand, it really isn't too hard to understand why it took almost 6 months.

On scale of 1 - 10 I would rate him a 10 for both his surgical competence and bedside manner.

Dr. Anthone is a very pleasant guy. Very professional and concerned. He and his nurse Maria urged me to go to an orientation to be able to ask all questions and to be informed on the mortality rate and why's, as well as the details of the surgeries available. Maria is also very patient and answers questions when you are in office and made me feel quite relaxed about the surgery when I spent about an hour with her the day prior. She was very compassionate during my epidural and was amazingly comforting.<br>
The facilities are impeccable as is USC Hospital where he performs the surgery. I am very relaxed about his ability and manner.<br>

After surgery~
Dr. Anthone is so wonderful, he saw me regularly in the hospital and was very concerned with how I was doing. He has a staff of resident doctors who also look in on you daily. Dr. A is one of the most humble doctors I have ever met. He doesn't boast or even take patient praise without a blush. He is always friendly and warm and never makes you feel like another number.
He has as much time as you need for answering questions after surgery too.

Dr. Anthone is a very compasionate doctor. From my first visit with him through my post-op visits he cares about his patients. He really does not like to see his patients in any kind of pain, he does all he can to keep this from happening.

Dr A's staff are great and helpful. I get frustrated when I hear others complain. It took me three months to get my first consult. I wanted to get in sooner then that and so I called his assistant and asked if that was possible. She told me to call every Friday afternoon to see if there were any cancellations for the following Monday. With her help I shortened my waiting period by over two months.

Dr. A emphasis aftercare a great deal, but he will not hold your hand and make you see the nutritionist. Infact he asks you if you have time to see her that day and that is it, it's up to each person to make sure they follow the aftercare instructions.

Dr. A has a information meeting that he likes to call his "info-mercial". He gives facts and statistics at this meeting. You are suppose to attend the meeting before your first consult.

I would give Dr. A a 10+, he is great. I like that he doesn't treat my weight issues like he is babysitting me. He gives me the information and I have to follow it. He is kind and compasionate along with a great bedside manner. I like that I have to take responsibility for my weight loss, I don't like when I read others being told they are severly restricted by their doctors. Dr. A. fromt he beginning said surgery is a tool, not a cure all. I had to invest a lot of me into my success.

Dr. A's bedside manner is great, now his fellow who assisted with my surgery was not so great. I sure hope they have a class or something that can teach him better bedside manners : )_

I met Dr. Anthone on December 12, 2001. After six weeks I have not heard back regarding my approval from Medicare. I qualify, but am disappointed that I haven't heard back from his office. Dr. Anthone is very straight forward. I just hope to hear from him soon because I've read in several places you can get approval quite fast if they give you a surgery date. Unfortunately I'm under the impression that they don't give you a date until after insurance approval. And it doesn't look like I've been approved because I haven't heard anything yet. I know this is a long process for most people, but its been six months since I made up my mind to have this surgery and its very hard waiting when you know what you need and want. Its definitely added stress which I know in my case and perhaps many others it only makes things worse because of the anxiety involved in playing the waiting game.

Well after this long expression of my disappointment, I'm hopeful that I will be hearing something soon, one way or the other.

My first impression was very good of Dr. Anthone and is staff. Nothing was discussed about aftercare. I was so hyped up when I had my appointment, I really didn't have any questions. I've read so much about it and had thought about it for quite a while and did a lot of reading. Well I think that I can go to an aftercare program somewhere in N. California. From all I have heard he is definitely competent surgically.

Dr. Gary Anthone is a very down to earth, yet professional, surgeon. He is extremely knowledgable about obesity surgery and once an individual learns about the Distal Gastric Bypass with Duodenal Switch operation I believe they will refuse to have any other kind of surgery. He also specializes in patients who are at extremely high weight levels.

Dr. Anthone and his nurse, Maria, have continued to be majorly supportive to me before, during and after surgery. They have also been very supportive of my wife who has stood beside me throughout this entire ordeal. Dr. Anthone has always made himself available to me no matter what time of day or day of the week I needed him. Additionally, Dr. Anthone's assistant Angie is extremely organized and efficient about filing state disability paperwork. She was a major help to my wife during the process, especially when disability retirement paperwork needed to be processed. Angie was responsive to every request made by my wife and it was one less issue she needed to be concerned about.

For anyone attempting to see him please be patient as he is extremely popular making it difficult to get an audience with him initially.

The USC University Hospital, where Dr. Anthone operates, is great also. It is a teaching hospital with state of the art equipment. You receive excellent care from the doctors, nurses and assistants. I even had a couple of nurses who had gone through the surgery themselves. Everyone was very aware of what I was going through and seemed very knowledgable of the type of operation I had.

All of Dr. Anthone's patients are in the same ward of the hospital, and the staff there is expert with taking care of his surgery patients. There is also a wonderful patient representative (Chris) who works with the insurance company while you are in the hospital getting pre-authorizations for any additional care needed. This cuts down tremendously on arguments with the insurance company once the claims start being sent in.

Dr. Anthone is very conservative and his staff will make sure you are in the hospital the length of time needed. He also personally comes and sees his patients daily. Dr. Anthone also has a Chief Resident and a Resident as well, so a patient always has access to a doctor while they are in the hospital.

He's a very nice guy - he seems caring and not "fat phobic" like other doctors I have met. I originally had Dr. Callery as my doc (and he seemed perfectly wonderful) but since I have decided to go with the Duodenal Switch instead of the RNY, I have chosen Dr. Anthone in Los Angeles.

Some people have complained about the staff being aloof or difficult to reach. Personally, I have not experienced that at all. I have dealt mostly with Marian on the phone and she has always returned my phone calls, in fact, it's rare that she doesn't pick up the phone when I do call! She has been very easy to work with - very pleasent and helpful. Maria (nurse) seemed very nice when I met her at the consultation and even Angie (who schedules appts.) was really nice and helpful with me on the phone when I called initially. Also, they have been really good about submitting paperwork in a timely fashion.

wonderful doctor

DOCOTR ANTHONE AND I HAVE ONLY MET ONCE BUT MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE A SATURDAY MEETING WITH HIM ON 10/27/01. HE SEEMS VERY CONCERNED, COMPASSIONATE AND CONFIDENT. THOSE ARE THE THREE C'S I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR. WITH "DIRECTOR OF BARIATRIC SURGERY" ON HIS LIST OF CREDENTIALS I AM VERY HAPPY WITH MY CHOICE.
THE OFFICE STAFF SEEMS TO BE VERY, VERY BUSY. I HAVE HAD A HARD TIME GETTING A LIVE PERSON ON THE PHONE. I HAVE EMAILED AND NOT HAD ANY RESPONSE. SO, I AM TOLD THIS SITUATION IMPROVES POST-OP. LET'S KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED.

Had only a first meeting so far. I like him. He seems to catch on pretty fast to the level of knowledge and intelligence of the person he is speaking to and tailors what he has to say accordingly. Seems to really know his stuff. So much for the DS being "expeimental and unproven." This guy has plenty of experience.
I can now add, after four months that Dr. Anthone is kind, very responsive and readily available to his patients post op. The office staff is not always "warm and fuzzy" but they are okay by me.
There is no real structured aftercare program, and no intense psychological support which some of his patients would like. There is an active on line support group at yahoo.groups.DS_USC.