Douglas Smego Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

I've known Dr. Smego for several years. He is kind and so skilled. His office staff needs to be a little more user friendly. It can take a long time to get an appointment. The insurance was a problem. Anthem Blue Cross does not approve the lapband. They feel it is "experimental." I went before an 11 member board and got my denial overturned. Now I work with any any patient who has a Blue Cross insurance product. I will help them get the denial overturned. It's a lot of time consuming paperwork but we have gotten them all overturned!!

Douglas Smego, M.D. (Stamford, CT)
Dr. Smego came highly recommended by my PCP. My first impression of him was good. I attended an informational group session he held at the local hospital (which he requires you to go to before scheduling an appointment with him)for people considering WLS. He was very clear about the process, and what needed to be done step by step. He also was very clear that he prefers to do the Lap-Band as opposed to the Bypass because of the lower risks. He will do Lap-Band Laporscopically (sp?), but only does open surgery for the bypass (he says it takes too long to be done lap and he dosent like his patients to be under for that long). He then opened the floor to Q&A and seemed very honest with all the answers (including the one about how many people did he lose since starting to perform these surgeries) He said he only lost one person. His office was very nice. JoAnn is my favorite person there and the one who I have been dealing with throughout this whole thing. She did everything with the insurance (I had to do nothing) and was very nice when I called her every week to find out the status of the insurance, or for any other little question I had to ask, although I could tell she was very busy. Overall...things so far have been great!

The first time I met Dr. Smego was at one of
his informative seminars. I felt that he
was extremely thorough with the information
that he presented. My immpression of him
since I met him in the office has not
changed at all. I feel that I made the
right choice choosing Dr. Smego as my surgeon.

The office staff has been wonderful.
They have been very helpful in answering
any and all questions and have been very
attentive my needs and concerns.

Dr. Smego went over all acpects of the things
that I would have to do before and after
sugery. Any questions that I have had since
he has been extremely willing to take the
time to talk to me and explain.

I truely feel that Dr. Smego cares about his
patients and their well being. He has told
me on more than one occasion that he and his
staff is here for me and that I should call
at any time with any concers.

Well, I have a surgery date set for July 24 with Douglas Smego in Stamford Ct. My first impression of him was not positive. He held the consultation standing up in a regular patient room. He only does lap surgerys for the VBG, but does all RNY surgeries open. He is also newly trained in the gastic baloon and thinks that this is the future of weight loss surgery.

After my disappointing first meeting, I contacted 7 other surgeons who do WLS within 50 miles. Most of them did not take my insurance (Cigna) then the 1 that did, could not see me for an initial consult for almost 3 months!

Well, I started to do some serious investigation around my town to get references on Dr. Smego. It turns out his reputation was flawless. Everyone from patients, other physicians, even nurses around town could not say enough nice things about him personally and professionally. I took this as a sign that I should give him another shot.

Now he has been very responsive and has worked hard to get me into his schedule. His office staff is very business like and very busy, not the sort of "fuzzy, warm, caring" staff I read about on this site from other offices. However, I truly believe that finding a qualified, talented surgeon is the most important part of the process as you are putting your life in his hands, not in the hands of his office staff!

I am still waiting for insurance approval so please say a prayer for me on that.

Dr. Smego is just starting what seems like a good aftercare program with monthly meetings, and a team of nutrionists and therapists so I think his understanding of the total picture for a WLS patient will greatly improve.

Dr. Smego is very clear on the risks of surgery which I think is important. He has plenty of business so I believe deep down, he has compassion for morbidly obese people.

I will write another update after my next

appt.

July 24th
It has been a long time. I want to update anyone considering Dr. Smego. I was scheduled to have an open rny today, but changed the date until August 14th to try to get approval now for the adjustable lap band. Dr. Smego is a HUGE advocate of the adjustable lap band (lap band). He has now been trained on it and he believes that it will be the "new gold standard" in the United States very soon. There are two main reasons - far fewer complications and deaths, and it is adjustable so that it can continue to be a good tool throughout your life. A long term study just released pointed out that after 5 years lap band patients are still losing overall, where as rny patients are starting to regain some of their weight.

I really wanted the rny, but then I had two people I know have serious complications and one will probably die leaving behind four beautiful daughters and a wife. I decided it was best to listen to Dr. Smego and go for the least invasive surgery first. I figure if this doesn't work, then I can apply for the rny, but hopefully this will work.

Dr. Smego's office has been very good. Last week he started a bimonthly meeting at the Tully Health Center in Stamford, Ct. which will be very helpful.

Good luck. Feel free to email me with any questions! [email protected]

We decided to go with the new Lap Band procedure. I had my Surgery on 6/19 and in 1 month I have lost 24 lbs. and 14.5 inches. I am very pleased with those results. Dr Smego is a very skilled surgeon and I trust him implicitly. He just recently started support group every other week.

My surgeon was Dr Smego:

My first impression was that he was a ready, set, go type of Dr and he was very informative. I still have the same impression of him since meeting with him the first Dr/Patient visit. His office manager Joanne is great and is very caring. He instructed me that after the surgery I have to see him every week for at least a couple of months to make sure that everything is ok. Dr. Smego and Joanne informed me that they are with me all the way from the beginning to the end, I have told my mom about him and she trying to do the same thing.

I have had 3 seperate appointments with Dr Smego and he has always asked me that is this really what I want to do? Because this is a life changing ordeal..And of course my answer is YYYEEESSSS...