Has anyway heard of David C. Voellinger?

There aren't any DS doctors in my state so the nearest doctor is David C. Voellinger in Charlotte, NC. My concern is because he was taken off of the DSfacts.com page because of complaints made about his staff. Has anyone had any dealings with David C. Voellinger and his staff?

While mine in Knoxville is also not on DSFacts...several of us have used him. He's here in Knoxville. He's an EXCELLENT surgeon, just listen to the vets HERE about vitamins, etc..I do like him as a surgeon tho and most of his staff is good, just misinformed about the DS. They tend to call it the BPD/DS not just the DS...but it is the DS.

Liz

I've heard of him, but don't know if there's a story behind it.

I don't know for sure but my understanding is that Dr V. has stopped doing the DS. Your other close options might be Dr Dennis Smith in Atlanta, GA and Dr Sudan in Durham, NC. 

--gina

Oh wow, I sure hope he still does the DS, if he doesn't he definitely needs to take it off of his website but I will call tomorrow to make sure he does. I have already checked with Dr. Sudan and he has a good reputation but I can not go to him due to insurance reasons. I keep thinking I am going to basically be forced to have the already approved RNY.

I had a problem with my insurance company and getting a surgeon to do the DS...they wanted me to stay in state. I had to prove that the DS was best for me  (Needed NSAIDS) and that there was NOT a surgeon in the entire state that would handle my case (I am a lightweight) .

I was on my last appeal when my surgeon agreed to do it.

Find out WHY your insurance is being such a hard case. They want you to give up and not get it.

On another hand, I have heard of someone RECENT who has used Voellinger and was very pleased. Her name is Beth and she can be of far more help with him.

Liz

I hope I'm wrong. Don't give up. Definitely call.

I am sorry I don't recall many details of why he was removed from DSfacts, but I think it had to do with him specifically, not just his staff.  Some years ago he had a DS patient named Mike/Michael who was dropped to the floor, though I am sketch on the details.  Mike/Michael had a profile here, severe complications, I think someone else was posting updates for him (?), and then the info stopped.  I am guessing he is no longer living.  With the dropping him part, I know mistakes can happen, but I think there were more bad things about Voellinger, I just don't recall them.  Perhaps others will have more of the details.

I went to a seminar with Dr. V in Charlotte over the summer and he was definitely still doing the DS at that time.  I had already decided to have my DS with Dr. Sudan in Durham when Dr. V's office called and told me that he would only do the sleeve on me because of my past abdominal surgeries.  Dr. Sudan didn't have a problem with doing the DS on me. 

Good luck getting things worked out.  I hope you will be able to get the DS.

Oh my, I really hadn't seen bad reviews on the doctor himself and when I emailed the folks at DSfacts, they only mentioned the staff complaints which were the types of complaints that I had seen, losing paperwork or other office type issues but I appreciate that info about one of his DS patients. I honestly don't have the means to travel a long distance away to have the DS and I have Anthem BCBS and SC Medicaid, although most places accept BCBS as my primary insurance, many won't accept the medicaid as secondary, but Dr. Voellinger does, I don't know what to do now. Since my RNY surgeon is highly recommended, I may have to go with it.