Ki H. Oh Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

He quit. He left the practice to his associate who, shortly after that, also quit. Repeated concerns after my surgery were dismissed without resolution. Did something go terribly wrong with a patient that made them both leave the practice? Seems suspicious. (My LapBand surgery was in May of 2010.)

Dr. Oh is not your mushy cushy kind of doctor even though he tries to be funny sometimes. He comes highly recommended and my decision to have him as my surgeon was because he is the best at what he does and that is the most important thing to me. He is a kind man, but he expects you to do your part and he will do his. I really respect him and have peace knowing he will be doing my surgery.
The office staff is very kind, but I had several different experiences where I had to wait an unacceptable amount of time to get a return call from them. My surgery was approved in 3 days, but it took almost a month to get my surgery scheduled.
Surgical competence trumps everything so I am very happy with Dr. Oh and his staff.

DISCLAIMER: This is just MY opinion and experience. Yours may be completely different.

Excellent pr-op and surgery itself. Post-op HORRIBLE. I had to be very self-motivated to get anything out of this. I really feel let down.

Dr. Oh is an excellent surgeon with a great reputation and success rate. He is rated a Surgeon of Excellence and the hospital is a Center of Excellence.

What I liked about Dr. Oh is that he is very knowledgeable, and has a lot of pre-op requirements such as education and tests. His education is MUCH better than the hospital's and really answered all my questions before I even had a chance to ask, from dangers of surgery to cost of supplements post-op to info about sweeteners and types of protein.

He can be abrupt and matter of fact--if you want someone to hold your hand and reassure you and cater to your emotions, he's not the one. But surgical competence was much more important than bedside manner for me. Besides, he really is very funny and certainly a nice enough person. He did make sure all my questions were answered, he did make sure I understood my pre-op and post-op requirements (he made me write it down as he said it after I'd already had tons of training and then had me read it back to him).

He is also very reasonably priced. Current "special" is $12,000 for lap band including all hospital fees and 2 fills. The only extra costs were the pretests, most of which would have been covered by my insurance if it hadn't run out just before I had them. They probably came to about $2000. However, they didn't tell me that if I had sleep apnea, I would end up in the ICU which would cost me another $6000, even though I was only in there a few hours. I knew ahead of time I had sleep apnea and didn't need to be in ICU. I could have brought my CPAP which would have helped but it wasn't even suggested and it didn't really even occur to me.

I got my surgery date quickly and when I had to postpone due to a family emergency, I got a new date just a few days away.

I am concerned that Dr. Oh does too many surgeries, particularly in one day. But the biggest problem is despite all the pre-op talk and education there was NO follow through. I had to have my fills done under the flouroscope because my port is deep due to my extreme morbid (super) obesity. These cost $500 a pop NOT included in the "2 free fills" paid for ahead of time. They can only be done at the hospital and there is only one person who does them and he only works one day a week. His schedule is not known until the Friday before that week. This made it very difficult to schedule and I had to keep calling and calling to get the office to finally make the appointment. There was no follow-up with me to see if I was doing all right, going to meetings or needed another fill. I had to really hound them to get anything accomplished.

The clinic really pushed support groups pre-op, but they aren't very convenient or frequent. I'm having to find others not affiliated with the hospital.

An example: I had an ER visit one Thursday night while visiting my daughter and there was some concern about sepsis because I had pain and was running a fever. The ER doc reached him Friday morning and he insisted I return home for an MRI. I was 45 min from a major city but 4 hours from his hospital. He and the ER doc said I needed to drive home immediately. I was safe to drive home 4 hours but not to go to a different city 45 min away where my mother could meet me and drive me back home so I wouldn't do it alone (it was a barren stretch of highway.) I had to sign myself out against Dr's orders since I felt it was safer to meet my mom than drive home alone. Either way I was to contact Dr. Oh when I got back to Seattle. But I was unable to reach him and I did not get a call back until the following Tuesday. By then the problem was resolved. I could have visited my daughter after all. If I had been truly ill, I would have had to pay for another ER visit in order to be treated. It would have been better to stay in the nearby city after all.

Other negatives are minor: his office is really too small as is the parking lot. Also, as great as the education was, I don't think I fully grasped how horrible the loooooong liquid diet portion would be, how hungry I would be even after surgery before I could have protein again. But I think that is more my fault. I also didn't get to see him for my one week follow-up but the other doctor in the office.

Pre-op and surgery I rate him 4.5 out of 5 stars. Post-op I rate him 1 out of 5.

I love Dr Oh and his staff!!! :) They are amazing! Dr Oh is very funny and does have a bit of a dry sense of humor --- but usually when you interact with him it's very serious. I like that about him... he takes my care and my health very seriously. I have a high level of respect for his skill and ability. I am confident leaving my well being in his care.

First impression was very knowledgeable, direct, explains well. Busy Office. Staff considerate. Must attend a nutrition class. Aftercare is very important. Monthly visits & fills if needed. 6 months blood work.
Overall rating, high.

He's very straight and to the point. Cuts no corners, however, he is very knowledgeable and he wants you to succeed and have no complications.

My first impression of Dr. Oh was that he was very professional and has a very dry sense of humor. His office staff are very nice and very well organized. After talking and doing alot of research, I have found that Dr. Oh is extremely well respected in the field and he is an excellent surgeon. Perhaps his bedside manner is not warm & fuzzy, however I have the greatest confidence in his surgical abilities. Dr. Oh feels that his expertise in the field gives his patients a gift - and that gift should not be wasted. Dr. Oh is very strict on his pre and post op programs and will be personally hurt when his patients do not follow his instructions. I fully plan on following them to the letter !

Dr Oh is very no-nonsense. He is quite knowledgeable though and has a wonderful record. I would take expertise over bedside manner in this case.

The office staff are wonderful.

He is very thorough, I have had a ton of tests ensuring success. I also have a nutrition class I have to take and more. Much better than others I have spoken too who don't even know why their doctor has them eating, or not eating foods.

Dr. Oh and Dr. Harai both did my surgery.
Everthing went very smooth.
Dr. Oh seems a no nonsense kind of Dr. but once the business of your visit is finished he chats a bit.
He gave a very good seminar and told everyone that he is their Dr. for life and you can never "quit' him.
After care is not suggested, but demanded.
The office staff are great and it seems a nice office to go to.
Glad I went with him after my brother in law, who is a GP, told me of all his patients that were successful with Dr. Oh.

At his seminar he was very straight foward injected alittle humor.At his office it was down to bussiness.He is a little on the dry side,but as time has gone on I'd begun to realize that it was just his way and to not take it personally.Hes had a great success rate,and maybe you can atribute that to his seriousness about the whole process.I do like his office staff very friendly and informed they were a great help thru the whole process so far. He has not left anything out as far as the whole procedure goes.Expectation,risk,rewards have all been outlined very well and I do understand the seriousness of what I am about to do to my body.The good,the bad and the ugly.I'd recommend him to anybody so long as they wanted a good surgeon who is serious about his craft. As far competence and bedside manner I think they are both important.I have no comment at this time about my doctors competence or bedside manner as I have not had the pleasure of either as of this writing. The surgery went well and Dr Oh made his appearance on the second day after sugery and I actually have not seen him since that's how indemand he is but eventually I will get to see him and thank him and show him his time was not wastedrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrnrn