What is a good/experienced banding surgeon?

LOL Liz.  That was just an example, but this city is still going crazy over the Blue and Orange of the Boise Broncos.  This is the biggest thing tio ever happen to this city I think.  It was absolutely the best college game I've ever seen bar none.... Luv ya, Dee

You are free to disagree..it's a free country.  That's the nice part about it.  I don't think you need to do 750 lapbands to be experienced at all, but that's just my feelings.  I don't want to go to the expert that thinks he is too perfect to make mistakes and then he does. Cheers, Dee

Dee... Just because someone is very experienced doesn't mean he has the attitude that he is an expert that can't make a mistake.  That can happen regardless of experience.  Many young docs out of school already have that attitude.  They have the education so they are perfect. Experience just doesn't mean they have an attitude.  Experience is what I required and experience, skill, and human compassion are what I got.

Hi, I just wanted to say that I researched the hell out of about 10 different surgeons before having my surgery and I picked Dr. Terry Simpson on purpose. My insurance would have paid any of them, but after talking to Dr. Simpson I found him to be completely competent, experienced, knowlegable and well educated as well as being down to earth. I don't regret my decision for a minute. He is exellent at what he does. ~Vicki

Dee, you are right! You DON'T need 750 lapbands to be experienced at all, how long does it take to learn how to do that? Jesus, if you need 750 tries at it before you are experienced, heaven help ya. No matter how many times a surgeon has performed any kind of surgery, there is always room for error, if it is his first or his seven hundred and fifty first surgery! That is just unbelieveable. I cannot believe that someone would actually think that! What is 750 the magic number? LOL!!

Excellent post, Nancy (But let's forget the bashing of the MX docs. The good ones are FAR more experienced than ANY of the US docs, and many of US go there )!    The newer people just starting reserach may not realize that an excellent RNY doc is NOT necessarily a excellent BAND doc. IMO, a good band sugeon - who BELIEVES in teh band and is knolwedgeable about the band -  is going to be someone who does MOSTLY bands - or at most half and half - NOT mostly bypasses, and a few bands on the side. The patients of these "a few bands on the side" docs usually find they are "second-class" citizens - hard to get an appt, hard to get answers, poor info especially from any nutitionist, no dedicated support group for band patients etc - and all these barriers make success MUCH less likely. Sandy R

You are right Sandy, being an RNY dr. should not even factor into experience with lapbanding...apples and oranges.  Yet, the doctor working with my doctor has been helping out and assisting on over 100 lapband procedures and is ready to be proctored on his own.  Does this seem like an excessive amount of training...perhaps...but we are talking about Vanderbilt which is a teaching college and they are seeking perfection.  The dr. I am talking about will be doing his own surgeries (of course with an assistant...I think it's breaking a law not too) and when he has 50 lapbands under his belt I would consider him in a heartbeat.  He is so well informed and is going to do simply lapbands.  I would trust him at this point and not be spouting off I wouldn't consider him because he haden't done 750 lapbands...that is as Nancy said Overkill...You can be a great band surgeon with 50-100 lapbands under your belt if you afre truly dedicated. I just prefer them to the ones who mass produce and perhaps don't give all their thought to every surgery.  I've heard of lots and lots of problems with this "mass production mentality" and I truly believe that young dr. is going to give me the best aftercare possible. This is just my 2 cents.  Now, for anyone that wants a dr. with lots of experience lapbanding...750...they can head for Mexico I guess, because even some of the great US surgeons don't have that many under their belt at this point. The great surgeon with the magnificent bedside manner and who is ever so conscious about pleasing...well I would be happy to be his 51st patient. There is no US dr. that does 15 lapband surgeries in a day...that would total almost 15 hr. of surgery a day and it just isn't happening...perhaps 50 a mo. is more realistic for a popular surgeon.  I think if you are looking at that many surgeries you are perhaps in another country where mass production is the norm...and that is exactly what I was talking about... If you are self-pay I can understand the choice of Mexico, but if your insurance covers the procedure I'm staying right here in the U.S. where I don't have to worry about getting fills at FillCenterUSA.  For those people that love their dr. in Mexico they now need a passport to go to see him just for fills...a whole lot of hassle I think. My 2 cents once again..... Dee

Since Dr. Simpson's name was used -- might as well "weigh" in.  After care is terribly important -- simple. Can surgery be done as an outpatient -- sure. But the reason we do it in the hospital is because if someone needs to, or wants to stay they can.  Two days in a hospital -- now that is excessive if it is not needed and the reasons for not wanting to stay in the hospital are clear -- the infection rate goes up the longer one stays in a hospital (I know they don't teach those simple things in some places, but it is a basic tenant of modern, Western medicine). There is no surgeon in Phoenix who does 15 lap bands in a day -- I have done 15 in a week -- but there is none that do more.  In other cities there are -- and if I had a few operating rooms to work with we could certainly do more (it is what we call turnover time). When I was proctored it was in Mexico, and that is because there were no physicians in the United States who were proctors -- in order to be a proctor you must have done at least 100 bands.  Now there are.  When I was in Mexico I was interested to see that one wall of the operating room was all glass to the outside, which I liked because in the US we don't have windows, when I asked about it they said that they had to have it that way since when the power went out they did need a source of light for their operation.  In the US we are mandated to have back up generators. In terms of experience with the operation -- as someone who spent years training surgeons, and was in charge of a training program -- the operation is fairly straight forward. It really is learning to live with the band that is important. RNY doesn't mean you do bands or aftercare well -- a great point; nor does doing thousands of bands mean you do aftercare well. But the main reason for writing this post was to dispel the idea that patients are simply sent on their way after an operation -- if they need to stay, they stay. It is silly to keep someone longer in the hospital if they don't need it. But if someone needs to stay,  Even if it is a few hours, then they stay.  We believe strongly in after care here, and that just isn't after the operation. We believe after care is learning to live with the band -- and that comes from books, support groups, classes, and our podcasts.  . Terry Simpson MD FACS

Dr. Simpson, I am so happy you found the time to weigh in on this subject.  You opinion is very much appreciated here.  I know that our US lap band doctors do not do 15 lapband surgeries a day and that was an utterly rediculous statement to make.  The person who stated they did their homework certainly didn't come armed with very much good info to make her case.  I have to wonder why anyone having lapband surgery would require 2 days in the hospital if they didn't have major complications.  I had to stay overnight because Medicare required it, but I knew I was ready to go home within hours.  I spent all my time walking the halls, because hospials are not the best place to get any sleep, which is badly needed after any surgery.  If I had to stay 2 days, and feeling as well as I did, I would have lost my mind.  I wonder why this person keeps saying she wants "her surgeon" in the OR...what does she think we do a switcheroo at the last minute here?  That part was also bordering in paranoia.  My surgeon can't operate without an assistant.  I think that is the norm for most surgeries.  What if something happened to your surgeon during surgery...there has to be someone to take over for him.  I have no doubts my surgeon did my surgery. He certainly didn't get me in an OR and turn me over to someone else.  I think there are possibly laws against that.  It is interesting that Mexico doesn't have auxillary power...that shows they aren't as far ahead as they claim.  I don't know of an American hospital that doesn't have it.  That is one of the small things that would keep me in the US...and the fact that many, many surgeons refuse to follow up on Mexican bandsters...mine is one of them.  There are Fill Centers USA that don't use fluoroscopy, but who wants to have to travel to one of them.  They are supposed to have experience, but I know for a fact the one in Boise, Idaho was closed down because the woman doing the fills simply was not hitting the port.  I wanted excellent followup afterwards.  My dr. did all his own fills...no nurse to do them for him...he took a whole day for fills. I have had no problems whatsoever and was looking for a good US surgeon, and fortunately found an excellent one.

Thanks again for participating Dr. Simpson.  I wish more doctors would do this.  We truly appreciate any input from you and Dr. Curry to clear up any misconceptions that people have about our great US doctors.

Again thank you,

Dee

Ok, tomorrows dream,,, I have read this WHOLE post(it took me half an hour) and I can say I agree with you.  Here is MY point. Although the others made several good points, I was in the same position. I had a VERY good surgeon. He was skilled and trained and certified as a bariatric surgeon, and was at a Bariatric Center of Excellence. He even does other types of gastric surgeries. Anyways, in my research for a surgeon, I spoke with a RN at the hospital who was banded. She went to Mexico and got banded. Paid much less, and admitted she would have LOVED to have this surgeon do her surgery, but she was self pay, and wanted to save the money. Now she is screwed because no US surgeon will fill her. In 8 years, she has flown back to Mexico twice, for 2 fills. Now, the Mexican surgeon has done approximately 1580 bands. This local surgeon has done 10% of that.  My point is this. All patients have a different criteria for what they feel safe with, in choosing a surgeon. Although I didnt want a QUACK inside me cutting, I didnt judge how effective, safe, and thorough he was, by the NUMBERS. In fact, the numbers of bands was the last of criteria I selected.  Remember folks, this band is new(in medical history terms) in the US anyways.  No way in hell would I go to Mexico for surgery. I know that may be tunnel vision, but that was out in my book. I fought like hell for this band, and there was no way that I was NOT going to be comfortable with my choice in surgeon. Read my profile, you will see that I went to several different surgeons, while ultimately settling on the local surgeon. That decision was made primarily from the research I did on the surgeon, the aftercare program(which is EXTENSIVE,,, you have to sign a CONTRACT to remain in the program) and references from patients, and hospital employees. Bottom line,,,, each patient is different and has different views on what makes them feel secure. Steve Que