Center for Obesity Surgery Bariatric Center

Dr.Rutledge is a very caring, highly skilled physician,who leaves no question unanswered.He has an excellent and friendly office staff though they are worked to the max.due to the high interest in his mini-gastric bypass. I would highly recommend him to anyone.

In finding Dr. Rutledge on the internet, I really found him to be very considerate, and wants his patients to be informed of what is going to happen to them and how their life will change. He continues to monitor his patients after the surgery and it makes all feel like he really cares. His office staff is very patient and considerate with all the interest and their demands. I really can not think of anything I dislike about him, he is determined about education and follow ups, he also has a very kind mannerism that helps the fears of the operation to disappear. He has an extensive aftercare and follow up even with those out of state. He addresses the risks of surgery and ask the patients to write a 10 page letter to him as part of his package he receives from all patients showing that we understand all procedures. I consider him to be very efficient in all areas. Thats why I have chosen him to do the surgery.

My first impression is that I couldn't believe there was a surgon who actually was an advocate for fat patients. In my past experiences with surgeons (I am a registered nurse who has worked with physicians for years) every health detail was a result of my obesity. I wondered what they blamed things on for thin people with the same symptoms. Over time I have come to know that he is genuinely concerned about my outcomes and made sure I understood all the risks of the mini bypass before I had my surgery. His office staff is polite enough but they are extremely busy do to the amount of people wanting to have the surgery. It was a harrowing week waiting to hear from Dr. R if I had been approved by him or not.
Future patients should take comfort in the fact that he is extremely accessible and will take as much time as you require to make sure you are comfortable with the process. Aftercare is critical. He does not allow anyone to leave the Durham area for at least 5 days. He also requires you to address aftercare in the patient letter you must complete prior to being approved for the sugery. Being from Missouri my aftercare program is structured with my PCP here. My PCP had to write a letter stating how he would monitor my after care before I was approved by Dr. R. Every surgical risk was outlined in a patient education manual that came to be my second bible. Risks were again addressed in the preoperative educational clinic, held by Dr. R, that lasted almost 4 hours. I would rate him excellent overall, but, of course, I am biased, he has provided me with a tool to regain a healthy weight. Since I wasn't awake during the surgery (duh) I can only rate his competence by my outcome. In a little over 2 months I have already lost over 50 pounds. I am estatic. His bedside manner, however, is equally impressive. I never felt rushed. He sat at the bedside - made sure my husband and I both were comfortable with the entire surgical process.

My only negative experience is that my surgery was bumped from Thursday to Friday because the hospital was full and had no beds for surgical patients to go to after their surgery. That 24 hours was the longest wait in my life.

My first impression of Dr. Rutledge was that he was very caring, and super nice. Dr. Rutledge is still the most caring doctor I have ever seen. He always responds to my email almost instantly. His office staff is very nice, but extremely busy. I have no complaints with Dr. Rutledge or his staff. Dr. Rutledge makes each patient complete a very detailed packet to make sure they understand the surgery, its risks, and benefits. He requires you to have a pcp that will do follow up care, but he is always available to answer questions. Dr. Rutledge went into great detail about the risks. I feel he didnt leave anything out. I chose Dr. Rutledge because he is an excellent surgeon, however his bedside manner is awesome.

I was amazed with Dr. Rutledge. I expected him to be more conservative, in reality he is pretty laid back. That is not to say that in order to get the surgery done by him was easy. It was not by far. Dr. Rutledge requires an extensive amount of writing and research on the patients part. That is why it makes it so worth while. I have met Dr. Rutledge and he truely is an extraordinary man and professional. He is genuinely concerned for his patients and is not one of the money hungry type. He is a ham, but do NOT get the wrong impression. When it comes to The Mini Gastric Bypass he is a rock that will not budge. He wants you to be very honest with him and yourself, and does not take the surgery litely. I have truely been blessed to find him and his life saving surgery. If you are from out of town, that is more than a 2 1/2 hour drive from Durham, plan to stay a week at least to make sure everything goes okay and then Dr. Rutledge can take your staples out at clinic. His clinics are now being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm. For more information go to http://www.clos.net

Dr. Rutledge is a very caring person. He understands the emotional as well as physical problems associated with obesity. His office staff is very helpful. I called them anytime I had a question. He is very concerned about his patients after they go home from surgery and requests that everyone keeps in contact and lets him know how they are doing. He was a trana surgeon for 20 yrs. before becoming a bariatric surgeon. He is friendly, cheerful, has a good sense of humor, but most of all is knowledgeable. I trusted him completely.

My first impression was very good of Dr. Rutledge. I went for an evaluation back in March 2000, and saw a film and saw patients who had just had the surgery, as well as people desiring the surgery like me.

I did not see the doctor any more before my surgery six months later. However, I conversed with him through e-mails, and got answers to questions I had that way.

My impression has not changed over time; I still find Dr. Rutledge to be highly professional as he was the first time I met him.

The office is very nice; however, they are extremely busy and hard to get sometimes.

Future patients should know that his bedside manner is great, and he treats the obese patient with respect and dignity.

He highly emphasizes aftercare, and return visits.

Yes, he does have a structured aftercare program.

Regarding risks of this surgery, he spells it out, and tells that you can die from this surgery, and is very thorough in this.

I would rate Dr. Rutledge as a 10+++++, and am so thankful I went ahead and had this surgery.

In surgical competence, bedside manner, I would still rate him equally a 10+++++ on both.

Very concerned

He was always very willing to return calls and responded well to questions.

Office staff were very helpful

Dr. R. requires that you have follow-up with a PCP from your local area, and you must have a letter of recommendation stating that he will follow you when you return home.

You have to thoroughly search information regarding the surgery, the possible complications and side effects of it and you must state them in your own words in a 10 page letter.

I would rate him as a 10 on a scale of 1-10!!

Surgical competence!! For the most part his bedside manner is also great!!

I met Dr R on 10-10-00, he is a caring doctor which is hard to find. He requires updates in follow up care. He explains all the risk of surgery. His staff is very helpful and very busy.

Dr. Rutledge is a superior surgeon and educator. He forces you to be informed regarding the bariatric procedure he performs. He prepares your for the best and the worst of surgery. His staff is understaffed and difficult to get in touch with. Occasionally emails are not answered and calls go unanswered. He has difficulty keeping up with the flood of new inquiries.
Rutlede places a very high empahasis on after care, both medicinally and nutritionally. I give Rutledge very high marks for surgical competence and bedside manner. His care and compassion for the obese is unparalleled.