Daniel Herron Bariatric Surgeon MD, Professor of Surgery; Garlock Division Chief

**Please note that I comment on two doctors. Dr. Herron was selected as my surgeon because of the incredible experiences I have had with his office. I felt it important to relay my inital experience that I had with Dr. Kurian's office as a comparison.**

After watching a Discover Channel special and learning about Dr. Kurian I contacted her office by email. I never received a reply. I followed-up with three phone calls over the course of two weeks and left messages and never received a reply. I could not feel comfortable with a Dr. whose office that was not responsive. This may be atypical, but was in fact my experience.

In comparison, it took less than 24 hours for Dr. Herron's office to call me back and his office took a lot of time to answer questions over the phone.

I found Dr. Herron's listing on ObesityHelp.com and after reviewing the Surgeon Profiles I was impressed with Dr. Herron's association/employement with Mt. Sinai. Additionally, his picture on his profile gave off an "approachable" energy which was validated strongly during my initial consultation.

Dr. Herron's office has been incredible to deal with. The combination of himself with Jennifer & Amy, in my honest opinion, creates a "Power House" and "Gold Standard" for how all doctor offices should be. They have been responsive, caring, educating, honest and ultimately have the goal of the patient or potential patient in mind.

During my initial consultation he took over two hours to explain the options, risks and made initial recommendations. My partner and I both felt incredibly comfortable with him.

The Pre-Op packages for evals and nutrition have been comprehensive and easy to understand.

The referrals that the office have given me have all been "top notch" and of the same caliber as their own office. In my opinion, they succesfully create a virtual or extended team of incredible professionals who are responsive and caring.

Dr. Herron's "Whole Team" approach is very successful for what makes me feel comfortable for something of this nature.

Responsiveness, Beside Manner and Surgical Competency are all important to me. And I feel Dr. Herron and his entire extended team has all three.

Detail-Oriented; Willing to answer fully all questions; responded promptly to emails; kind; good sense of humor; caring. Impression has been validated over time. Office staff is (pun intended) largely extremely attentive and helpful, particularly Jennifer Nalle (coordinator) and Amy Fleischman (nutritionist). They have each gone the extra mile to address my myriad of questions and concerns and even were able to push up the surgery date.

Did not like the malpractice liability disclosures relating to risks of surgery. I have been alarmed unnecessarily (from my point of view). Unfortunately, this is a by-product of a very litigious society and, presumably, is similar with all surgeons of this nature.

Still do not understand most surgeons' recommendation of Roux-en-Y over lap band considering the lack of mortality risk, the minimal recovery time,the adjustability, and the reversibility. Herron is no exception here but acceded to my wishes regarding same.

Overall rating awaits after-care and follow-up but I really lilke that which I have experienced so far. I made my choice of surgeons based upon competence and personal attention. This is not a mill. I have received impressive care so far.

Now, almost 10 weeks post-op, my initial impressions have been confirmed. He is a warm, caring, super-competent surgeon who (when he is not called to an emergency -- as all good MD's are) has always taken all the time that I required of him. I tend to be a little acerbic and he even has a sense of humor. Most importantly for me, he makes the patient feel that he/she is the only patient that he is seeing. He has been patient (no pun intended) beyond patient. If there is anything to be critical of, it is his time management -- the by-product of his caring for each patient. He is often very delayed in seeing his scheduled appointments. Again, though, his competetence is beyond question. What sets him apart from others is the personal attention (along with that of his staff -- notably, Jennifer, Amy and Marcel). On balance, he gets an "A" and has my undying (again, pun intended) respect, admiration, and thanks.

He was fantastic. Very down to earth, easy to talk to, not judgemental or critical but not brash or too quick with easy, empty promises either. He was emphatic about pointing out that WLS was simply a tool that he could give me to make weight loss doable, but that it would still be up to me to make it work. And I still feel that way about him and his team.

I met Dr. Herron at Mt. Sinai on 1/17/02. What a lovely man. He is very kind and caring and seems to be very competent. Answered ALL my questions, drew pictures of wls, rny and agreed that is the surgery for me.He has done about 300 surgeries and hopes to do mine lap! Rate him and his staff, especially Irene, at a 10 so far!It is over two years since my surgery. I have lost 114 pounds and have started losing again. Dr. Herron is still my hero!

I LIKE HIM RIGHT AWAY HE WAS VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD, AND TO THE POINT.
MY IMPRESSION REMAINS THE SAME
HIS STAFF COULDNT HAVE BEEN MORE CARING AND SENSITIVE.
HE WAS JUST VERY BUSY.
HE DOSEN'T PLAY GAMES,HOWEVER I FIND HIM A VERY CARING DOCTOR.
AFTERCARE IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HIM
YES HE DOES
YES HE TOLD ME ALL THE GOOD AND BAD ABOUT THE PROCEDURE.
A HUGH 10!!!!!!!!
BOTH ARE GREAT.

I absolutely LOVE Dr. Herron!! My first impression of him was that he was very nice and approachable, and it has not changed! He never makes you feel rushed or that all your questions are something he's answered a million times before. He is very patient and thorough with all his answers. I have been researching this surgery for 2 years and I have been very nervous of possible complications, but now, I am so confident with Dr. Herron I am looking forward to my surgery and leaving my care in his hands completely!! There is nothing negative I can say about Dr. Herron. Office staff is always pleasant but usually very hectic and burdened.

2/18/04 - I finally met with Doctor Daniel Herron today. He was wonderful. He didn't rush me and he answered all my questions even before I asked them. He described in detail the 2 types of surgery I'm interested in and told me it's totally my choice. He was very professional yet he was very funny and cute! If I had any doubts about my surgeon before today I do not any longer. Thank you Doctor Herron! Also his staff is very helpful and courteous. I'm sorry I don't know all their names but I will in time. Thank you ladies!

To date I have met with Dr. Herron two times. Each time I was very comfortable with him and pleased with is assessment of the entire situation. Things are at a standstill for me now because Dr. Herron was just appointed the head of Bariatric Surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City and therefore, the transition of records and everything is going to be time consuming. But I know it will be worth the wait.

6/10/04 - Once again met with Dr. Herron, this time at his new office in New York City. He is now doing his surgery out of Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC as he is the head of bariatric surgery there. He is still unpacking but yet he sat with me and made me once again feel comfortable. He answered all my questions and then introduced me to Marcel his assistant who is in charge of my paperwork. I spoke to Daryl his precertification guy who was wonderful. I got my authorization letter in the mail from my insurance company in less than 2 weeks. All in all things are going smoothly. Now I will meet with him again on 7/21/04 and I'll be on my way to the losing side!

Dr. Herron was the fourth surgeon that i saw; I was instantly comfortable with him and knew that my surgeon search was over. Thorough, patient, informative, caring, relaxed, friendly and very approachable are some of the ways i'd describe Dr. Herron. His office staff is friendly and efficient, quickly responsive to my phone calls and emails. I never had to wait more than 20 minutes to see him at a scheduled appointment and they fit me in immediately when i had a problem and needed to see him a few days before surgery. He always took whatever time I needed and I never felt rushed. For me, Dr. Herron is the perfect combination of a great surgeon and compaaionate caregiver.

I was very impressed with Dr Herron. He explained both procedures to me with pros and cons. I felt very confident when I left. I don't feel that some of the staff is to attentive when you call. They kinda don't want to be bothered by your questions. Hopefully it will be different after surgery.

My first impression of Dr Herron ( as we have only met once for my initial evaluation) was that he was very sincere, compassionate and well educated. My impression has not changed of him. The office staff there has been nothing but helpful and accomodating to me. Dr Herron took a long time describing the risks of the lap band surgery and lap rny, I have decided to go with the latter as a result of my meeting with him. I would rate him as great so far, I will come back after the surgery and update.I think that surgical competance and bedside manner are both critical for the patient to have a successful, pleasant, calm experience.