Oregon Weight Loss Surgery Bariatric Center

I wanted to mention, in addition to agreeing with other posters' positive comments about Dr. Patterson, that I'm very glad she requires so much pre-operative screening and testing. I was sure I didn't have sleep apnea, but the required sleep study showed that I do have a mild case of it, so they're going to monitor my oxygen extra carefully during and after surgery. I feel that I'm going to be very safe during my surgery since she's been so careful to get everything assessed. I also feel that the appointments with the psychologist and the nutritionist did a lot to prepare me mentally for the surgery. I was surprised - but pleased - that she'll want me to come in to see her every year for 20 years!

Dr. Patterson is a petite professional no-nonsense doctor. Good Sam, the hospital where she does her surgeries in Portland, has a special wing for WLS patients with special equipment to accommodate the larger patients. I consider her the cadillac of the WLS surgeons in the Portland Metropolitan area. However, she is also the hardest to get to. If your insurance company has a weight loss exclusion, she will not even accept you into her program. I am trying to obtain alternate insurance now so I can bre accepted into her program. She has a great support group and staff.

My first impression of Dr. Patterson came from one of her information sessions where I was surprised by how young she was. Didn't appear to be much older than I am. She appeared to be very knowledgable and caring. Her information session was outstanding and her staff has proven to be #1 on follow through. I attended another information session a month later with a co-worker and it gave me even more faith in Dr. Patterson's abilities. She is big on aftercare which I find comforting. I want someone who will continue the journey with me and help me along. Her information sessions are amazing and I highly recommend her. I am so happy that she will be my surgeon, I really feel I picked a good one. I'll wait until the surgery is complete on April 28th to give her a rating but at this point I would rate her the highest.

Dr. Patterson is a great doctor. She has the utmost professionalism and is a very skilled surgeon.

Her staff is very helpful.

Dr. Patterson is professional, straightforward, and pleasant. I am very satisfied with her work.

She seems compatent. She teaches other surgeons to do the laperscopic RNY and LapBand surgery. She is very enthusiastic.

I have not yet met her personally.

She does a 3 hour seminar which you must attend. She explains everything in detail. You meet her Insurance Person, Her Coordinator,and one of the Psycholigist

After you apply and Before you meet with her she requires that you:

See a Psychologist (you do a test and meet at least once with that person. They may require more visits)
a Dietician before and after surgery
get a letter from you Primary Care Doctor and cardioligest if you have one.
Have a sleep study done.
Get an EKG.
Have a bunch of blood work done.
Provide a Diet History.
Have an Echocardiogram done.
Attend 2 Support group meetings.

For Lap Band also:
have Uper GI Study

She might request additionsl things depending on each individual.

Her Staff is fantastic, always helpful, and always there for you.

To her after care is EXTREMELY important and required.

She has an extremely good success rate. But she makes you understand that there are Always a lot of complication that could happen. It depends on each person. Each person is different and is effected differently.

SO FAR I have not had to address any other things. But as I go through the program I am sure I will have to.

Nothing Negative at this point.

I haven't met her. This is the surgeon my doctor goes through. Im waiting for my packet to arrive.

<font face="Comic Sans MS"><font size=2><p align="left">My consult with Dr. Patterson is scheduled for November 13, 2001. I was intially going to go with Dr. Eric Friedman at Providence, however Dr. Patterson seems to truly take interest in the whole process. I have received amazing amounts of helpful material from her office, and her support groups are amazing! Of course this is just my impression having never met Dr. Friedman.
MY CONSULT HAS BEEN MOVED UP TO OCTOBER 30TH!! WHOOOHOOO
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I met with Dr. Patterson as planned but there were a few changes. She has decided she is no longer going to perform the DS/DGB.
I was impressed by her ability to speak plainly about the process and by her desire to perform the best procedure for me as an individual. She also clearly expressed her understanding of my dissapointment and my trepidation at changing to a procedure I had not given a moment of serious thought to before that day. Busy as she is I have no doubt she'll be in my corner until I've achieved the best results possible. I also met her associate Dr. Davis, who was very personable.
<br><p>2/27/02 Despite my dissapointment with my denial and the time it has taken to get my appeal going, I remain convinced that Dr. Patterson is the best to have in my corner. If my appeal is denied, We will discuss another procedure. My preferrence is the BPD, but we'll see where that goes.
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5/19/02 My appeal was denied. I saw Dr. Patteron in June to formulate a new plan of attack. I was pleasantly surprised when she expressed no problem with performing the BPD for me. We submitted the paperwork on May 2, on May 14 I was approved. Now we move on to the next step!

Dr. Patterson is very kind and caring. She understands the needs of morbidly obese people and she does not act like we are second class citizens. She is very professional and her office staff is pretty good. Her program coordinator, Vera, is a pistol and she takes her role as advocate very seriously. Right now Vera is focusing on improving the quality of care that obesity surgical patients receive at Legacy Good Samaritan and she has definitely made an impact.

Dr. Patterson is very thorough and she has high standards for herself and her patients. She makes her people jump through many hoops and usually requires weight loss to show committment to life-style change but these things are all positives in my book. I have consulted with three surgeons and she is by far the best.

My cousin and support person is a nurse on the bariatric recovery floor and she says that Dr. Patterson has an excellent reputation in the community and with the nursing staff. It has been my experience that nurses know who is good and who is not.

Dr. Patterson's bedside manner is excellent also. She is an encourager to her patients. As far as negatives go I have none at this point except that I think that all medical professionals should offer a discount to cash paying patients like they do to the insurance companies they contract with.

For aftercare Dr. Patterson offers support groups and a physicians assistant for us to access.

I will add more after surgery.

I just went to her seminar. She was very willing to talk to us. Had all kinds of information and was very nice. She told us many things that I didn't know about the risk factors. I think that we are going to get along great.