Anyone have DS surgery in Seattle area?

I'm looking for a surgeon in the Seattle area that is experienced with DS. I have been on the dsfacts site and there is only one doctor listed for Washington.

 I'd check with Dr. Srikanth www.centerforweightlosssurgery.com
He has been doing bariatric surgery around 20 years, one of the most experienced/best in the region. He has been doing the DS for many years.  He was my band surgeon and will be doing my revision to VSG soon. I really like him. 

Edit: I think my dr. IS the only one in WA. Or one of the only ones.  He is excellent btw. And he performs surgeries at Evergreen as well as St. Francis.

Dr. Srikanth is an excellent surgey with the DS.  We also have a great support group meeting every second Saturday at Sizzler in Tukwila, near Westgate Mall 3pm -6pm most are Srikanths patients.  Come and join us this Saturday 1/14/12.

Gail

Hi-am new to this Forum (and this page) and am wanting bariatric surgery but actually I have to find a job that gives PTO or has FMLA (mine does neither). 

How could I find out which employers in WA state have insurance that covers any of the bariatric surgery procedures?

I would like to get it done asap, and have the money next month to pay cash, BUT at my job I can't miss weeks on end of work (no PTO, no FMLA) so since the first step in my goal is to get a job that I could earn then take time off for the surgery, thought I'd ask around and see which employers have insurance that cover it-since am looking for a job upgrade anyway.

Know of any?

Thanks!

The FMLA act applies to most employees that have been with a company for 12 months, with the exception of those working for employers that employ less than 50 people for less than 20 weeks per year. Do you work for a small company?

I know only of a few employers that cover it: Microsoft, Starbucks, and Costco.

Good luck to you! Which surgery are you wanting? Do you have a doctor yet?

KS123:

Well also a lot of the hospitals have FMLA. I work for Harborview Medical Center which is ran by UWMC.  But like the above comment you have to work for the company for either a number of months or have worked for them for a certain number of hours.  Also for example at my work you can't even use vacation time for the first 6 months after you start.  (I do payroll and HR for two of the hospital's units)

I've been with HMC for almost 1 year and 8 months.  The process has already taken me 8 months to get to the point of scheduling my surgery.  I had to start off by doing a nutrition program for 6 months and lose 5% of my weight - this cost 1450 for nutrition program out of pocket as insurance does not cover it.  

You also have to have one of the following: 
Diabetes
Hypertension
High Cholesterol (hyperlipdemia or dyslipdemia)
Sleep Apnea
Pickwickian Syndrome 
Pseudotumor Cerebri

So, it's not really as easy as finding a new job and automatically having the surgery with FMLA.