"Dr. Flancbaum is what I would call a pretty "down to earth" kind of guy. He was somewhat "let's get to business" both asking questions and giving information. He did impress me very much as knowing what he's doing. I was very impressed with the woman (in California) who was responsible for getting the insurance approval. She was always cordial, warm, PATIENT, willing to answer questions and return phone calls. (This group of doctors' procedure is to get insurance approval before meeting with the doctor, so she was our (my husband is doing this too) verbal contact. (I had initially made contact with somebody over the "net".)
I only met the doctor once and, perhaps I'll go with my husband for his appointment on Wednesday and meet him again. If not, I'll see him next when I have surgery.
His office staff was not great. There is a secretary who is not very friendly - but I guess it is not a great deal. There is a dietician who works with him and she was quite nice. Again, patient, as well as knowledgeable and I was comfortable speaking with her.
What I like least about him (and I have to say Dr. Silvestri with whom I set up my original date) is that, while I believe he is expert at understanding and doing the "plumbing" involved in this procedure and truly had patient safety at heart, I think there is very minimal understanding of why people are obese in the first place (the multitude of physiological and psychological implications), and I think this is an issue that is endemic and epidemic in the medical profession in general.
I think future patients should know that this is a very qualified, concerned professional who will do his utmost to provide a safe, effective, surgical procedure, with whom it is fairly easy to get a date for surgery, but is not someone you should count on to understand what it is you have gone through as an individual dealing with being obese.
He is fairly thorough about after care, although he anticipates a fairly easy recovery (ie - said I should be driving and most things within 2 weeks and that my husband could follow up with his surgery 2 weeks after mine, whereas the first surgeon suggested my husband wait 2 months!)
I'm not so sure about what you mean by "structured". There are set amounts of time in which you return to meet with the surgeon and nutritionist. Other than that, I am unaware of anything.
He was very forthcoming about the risks - heart, infection. They do a chest X-Ray the day after surgery to check for leakage. He told me what his stats are. I was surprised to hear it did an "open" instead of a "lap", but, once he explained why, I was very pleased. He anticipates my being on the table for one hour and to be discharged from the hospital the next day. That sounds good to me!
I would rate him with an A-. If his understanding of the aspects of why and how people get fat and stay fat were better - right to A+.
I'd say surgical competence."
