Eric T. Vaughn Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.
11 yr Experience
100% Practice is Bariatrics
Min Age of Patient is 18
Max Age of Patient is 60
11 yr Experience
100% Practice is Bariatrics
Min Age of Patient is 18
Max Age of Patient is 60
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My 1st impression of Dr. Vaughn was that he was very caring and energetic. He was fun to listen to, and very informative. He answered every question that my mom and I had and was very patient with us. I have even more respect for him after my surgery. He was very caring and still took all the time I needed to answer my questions. His staff is very nice, including the hospital staff. They were very patient with all of us, even when we were feeling our worst. I would recommend him to anyone having the surgery done in a heartbeat. The dr.'s in general have a easy to follow aftercare program, and he was very clear on the risks of the surgery the day of my 1st appt. w/ him. I would rate him a 10 on a scale from 1-10. Both his professionalism and the staff at the hospital were wonderful.
My first impression of Dr. Vaughn was great.
Everytime I have went to see him he is very personable. The ofice staff is great. Future patients should know that he is super. He was just great and that is all I really have to say. I would recommend him in a second.
I was very happy with the initial consult with Dr. Vaughn. He seemed very down to earth (for a doctor) and quite knowledgeable. He was straightforward and confident about the surgery and what to expect afterward. I didn’t feel intimidated by his knowledge of the procedure and my lack thereof. He was able to explain the procedure to my husband and myself in terms that allowed us to digest the information and make an informed decision as to whether the surgery was for me or not. I was most impressed by the fact that he had no reservations about working on one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I made Dr. Vaughn aware of my Biblical conviction to refrain from the use of blood, and he assured me that he has no problem with that at all. He has performed this procedure on witnesses before and would take the utmost care with my case as well. The day of my initial consult, I was late getting to the center. On the way there I picked up my messages at home to find that Blue Cross called telling me that I was not covered for the procedure. I was puzzled because I was told at BTC I would be. I didn't want to waste my time driving all the way to Schaumburg and paying the consultation fee then getting my hopes up for something that wouldn't happen for me. Sooooooo I got back on the horn with BTC and they assured me that there must be some mix up. So needless to say about 30 to 45 minutes and 3 or 4 phone calls later I got the matter straitened out with Blue Cross. Thus, I was late for my appointment. When I arrived I got the feeling that the office staff wasn't happy to see me. I understand their dismay, but I still would have liked to have been greeted the same as anyone else that did make their appointment on time. However that is neither here nor there now. I have the feeling that if I had made the appointment on time the situation would have been different. I guess what I liked least about Dr. Vaughn was nothing personal but once I began searching the website I found that there was only a handful of insurance companies that approved RNY for him. While it seemed that the other doctors at Belvidere had pages of them that dated back a year or two. My PCP told me that the most important thing would be to have an experienced surgeon perform the surgery. So I was quite concerned especially when my husband had read things on the net that made him decide that he didn't want me to proceed with the surgery. I wasn't having that so I did further research myself about the risks involved and called Dr. Vaughn to settle my husbands (and mine by that time) fears once and for all. That in the beginning was not the best experience I’ve had either. Not with Dr. Vaughn, but with the hospital staff. I had talked with a patient counselor a day before and called back for more information. Well after a day or two I never received a call back. So after attempting at least 5 times and leaving at least 3 messages with different people I decided that if no one else would call me back at the very least the person I was entrusting my life with should return my call. At first I was told that I wouldn’t be able to reach him for a week. And I wasn’t hearing that so she told me that I could reach him on Monday at the Schaumburg office. I didn’t like it but I said O.K. and left a message for him to call me. Well to my surprise he called me twice the same day. He explained that it is difficult to reach him when he’s in surgery all day. Which I can understand. Anyhow, he answered all my questions in a very straightforward manor that put my mind (and my hubby’s) at ease. I was especially pleased with his willingness to discuss the very serious risks involved with the surgery. I asked if he had every known of anyone dying from the surgery and he confirmed what I imagined that he had and it has a lot to do with the condition an individual is in when they enter the surgery. The more health problems a person has going into it the surgery, the more at risk they become. I completely understand that and don’t intend to wait until I’m at a higher risk for complications. Dr. Vaughn’s candor was very much appreciated. I figured if he wasn’t willing to discuss that issue with me, there must be something wrong. Needless to say my husband and I are looking forward to the surgery very much! Dr. Vaughn mentioned the aftercare program and from everything I’ve read, it seems to be a very strict one which I intend to follow as closely as possible. I might as well make the best of it. Overall I would rate Dr. Vaughn highly. His bedside manor and surgical competence were both equally as high and to my liking. He made us feel extremely comfortable. Even showing a sense of humor which I was a bit surprised to see. Doctors are human! (just jokin!) These are just my personal experiences with the good doctor and his staff. Everyone may not have this impression.
Dr Vaughn has a very strong presence in the room. He is very knowledgeable about the procedure. I like him a lot.
The office staff was very friendly, no one looked down upon me because I was so heavy.
I had a religious preferrence regarding not using blood products, and Dr. Vaughn had no problems accomodating my request. Dr Vaughn has a very good bedside manner.
Dr. vaughn was very informative. He took time to explain the whole procedure in detail. He also told all about the risk as well as the benefits of the surgery. The staff was also helpful and freindly. On a scale of 1-10 I will definitely give him a 10.
My consult on AUGUST 14th @ 1:00pm. I live 3 hours from the Bariatric Treatment Center facility that I chose to have my surgery done at so I wanted to make sure I wasn't late since we were not sure "where" we would end up. We made it a little early and decided to go eat lunch. We arrive at BTC at 12:45pm and the first thing I had to do was fill out some paper work while I was waiting. The receptionist was full of smiles and eager to help if I had any questions about filling out the forms. There were 5 very short general information pages to fill out which took all of 15 minutes, I was telling my husband and friend (who is also considering surgery) what were on the forms. I found that we had to wait a little longer then I had wanted to, but finally at 1:20-1:25p.m. my name was called and we were taken to the back consult / exam room area, the patient counselor asked that my husband and friend wait in the consult room while we got my weight.(that was an extra point for her!!) At this point I am starting to get a little stressed though... my patient counselor was a very self-confident woman who seemed rather nice but I was thinking she was going to be "rude" or judgemental because she was a "normal" size person and might not understand how I felt or anyone else in the room with questions and concerns. The very first thing that she told us when we got into the consult room was that come Friday she will be out ONE YEAR and has lost a total of 110#, I ABOUT FREAKED!
The one thing that I liked most of all was that at the Belvidere Facility they use computers to enter information on so they don't have to waste time (or money for that matter) with a lot of "paper". They still had a chart made up for me and my general inforamtion of course. My patient counselor told me that the doctor would be in after she got done explaining some things to me and asking me some health related questions, this took about 15-20 minutes, and I was given a chance to ask her questions, which we all did! When she was done she said that doctor would be in, in a few minutes. I at this point was thinking, is a few minutes gonna roll into days or weeks here? ( like most DR offices )
In less then 15 minutes a man walked through the door to my consult room.
I took 2 people who are near and dear to me, my husband who I adore and best friend of 16+ yrs. My first impression of Dr. Eric Vaughn was wonderful, he came in and saw 3 people in this room, so he did not assume that he knew me, he asked for me... shook my hand and I introduced him to my husband and best friend. He said that he wanted to ask me some questions and that after that he would explain and "draw" the surgery us. Any questions we had he would be eager to answer and it took off from there. Dr Vaughn was caught off guard when I asked him about his residency at Howard in Washington DC, he looked up at me with this huge smile saying, "what" how'd you know about that, I told him he would be suprosed about the information that is available to internet users. I also knew about his being in the AIR FORCE reserves I told him that I did a lot of research about this prior to coming in. I wanted to know what he was talkin about, I did NOT want to feel like an idiot. He smiled and laughed with me. He said that would make his job easier. He said he would have to visit this web site I was talking so much about. (this one by the way obesityhelp.com)
I WANT TO MAKE SURE IF YOU ARE READING THIS YOU UNDERSTAND HOW I WALKED INTO THIS FACILITY - I WALKED IN WITH A FOLDER FULL OF QUESTIONS, INFORMATION THAT I FOUND ON LINE NOT ONLY ABOUT "BTC" BUT ABOUT DR. VAUGHN AS WELL. I WAS PREPARED, VERY PREPARED!
THIS IS MY LIFE - AND NO EVERYDAY "JOE" IS GONNA CUT ME OPEN AND REROUTE MY "INSIDES" I WANTED THE BEST.
I was also prepared to walk out of this place and never look back if for one instance I was uncomfotable and became leary of anyone for any reason there and chalk the consult fee up to another diet down the tubes and go on with researching other places to have this surgery done.
Dr. Vaughn explained surgery and really hit hard with the after care things that were available through BTC. Follow up appointments as well as that the nutritonist would be "hounding" me to maintain healthy eating habits, that I would have to submit blood to ensure the vitamins and nutrients were being stablized after surgery. The after care program for BTC is huge benefit and one of many reasons why I chose this facility for my surgery.
Risks and complications were discussed in great detail for a long time. My husband had several issue with complications and risks. Dr. Vaughn discussed how things would be handled directly after surgery and right into the room where I would be called on every 4 hours to walk, walk, walk. Dr. Vaughn never once hesitated to answer a single question we asked. He offered even after the almost 2 hour discussion more time to us if we had any other concerns or questions. If we would have had some he was very eager to stay and talk more. The last thing that Dr. Vaughn asked me was if this was something that I was still wanting to go through with. I HAVE FOUND THE BEST Dr. IN ILLINOIS(for me) - in my opinion!!
~~~~ Dr. Eric T. Vaughn ~~~~
I would have to rate Dr. Vaughn on a scale of 1 to 10 and for me to give him a 10 would be presuming that he has no faults, I am sure of one thing, he is HUMAN and has one or two faults. I however could NOT find a sinlge reason to dis-credit Dr. Vaughn in any of the follwing; his compassion, his humanity, his loyalty, his competence about surgery and BTC programs before, during or after surgery, his ability to listen as well as to explain.
After Dr. left the room 5 minutes passed and the patient counselor came back in to finalize things for me and make sure this is what I wanted to do. She also brought along her personal photo album of her weight loss, it was amazing!
I wanted a tour of the facilty because I read about where someone else on this web site had said the staff was unkempt, unfriendly, lazy answering call lights and that the facility was dirty, etc etc etc....
I am very picky and my husband can vouch for that. I walked those halls looking for any signs, lack of care in patients as well as cleanliness. There are NO complaints that can be made from the time we spent in the halls, and we did not "run" down them it was slow and the patient counselor showed us everything I asked to see. The waiting room for family is so user friendly is amazed all of us. I AM very pleased!
I am awaiting my approval and will be updating you as time goes by.
I sure hope this helps. :0)
SCORES on scale of 1-10 (10 being best).
OFFICE FACILITY: 8
HOSPITAL FACILITY: 8
OFFICE STAFF: 8
HOSPTAL STAFF: n/a
DOCTOR: see above
WAIT TIME:5
These are my personal impressions of my personal experience during my consultation and I am making no statements about what other people may experience.
My first impression of Dr Vaughn (I have met him only once so far) is that he appears to be highly knowledgeable. He took the time during my consultation (7/12) to explain what the surgery entailed. My surgery is scheduled for 9/6 so I'm certain that I will learn much more about him and the rest of the staff at BTC Belvidere.
I met Dr. Vaughn on Fri 8/2/02 and I do like him and feel confident that he is a competent surgeon. Was very good and answering my questions to where I understood and he did good putting me at ease. I felt a little rushed near the end when he was looking at his watch asking me if I had more questions as he was reaching for the door knob, but I totally understand that they have other patients to see and a schedule to keep. As far as the aftercare, he stessed that everything I needed to know would be in a book that I would receive after surgury. However, some of my questions regarding aftercare and things I need to know while I'm still thinking about this. I still classify myself as someone who thinks I going to have surgery and I think they think everyone who comes in the door is definately going to have surgery. So the more information I can get now, will help me to completely make up my mind. It's too early for me to rate his surgical competence or bedside manner, as far as I tell he will have both. However, the competence is 10 times more important to me. I have no complaints at all and I don't doubt that I'm in good hands. And although I don't have anything negative to say, I'd still like to add ... "these were just your personal impressions of your own personal experience and that you are making no statements about what other people may experience" :-)
Right from my very first meeting with Dr. Vaughn I felt confident in him. He took the time to discuss the surgery with me and addressed any concerns I had. He has a good sense of humor and that helped me to feel a little more at ease.
My impression of him only improved with time - he showed a genuine concern for my well-being and took the time to explain the operation and what to expect after the operation in detail.
I have to be totally honest, while I was very impressed with Dr. Vaughn I was less than satisfied with his office staff. To be quite frank I found his office staff to be rude on more than one occasion. I had a couple of different concerns regarding my insurance and a couple of other matters and his staff not only failed to return my phone calls but they were very unhelpful, short, and rude with me when I finally did get in touch with them.
There really wasn't anything that I didin't like about Dr. Vaughn. He stressed the importance of following the aftercare instructions. He emphasized that proper after-care will aid in the success of this operation. I am not aware of any structured aftercare program other than maybe the consultations with their dietician at the hospital. The nurses at the hospital were very knowledgable and discussed some of my post-op concerns with me. I was really impressed with the nurses and the atmosphere at the hospital - everyone was so helpful and understanding.
He addressed the risks of surgery with me throughly. He did ease my concerns by letting me know the number of these operations that they have preformed and the very high success rates that they have had.
Overall I would rate him a 9 on a scale of one to ten. He really does need to talk with his office staff though, and explain that without the patient that they wouldn't be getting a paycheck. When you call a place two or three times with no call backs you start to wonder what their care is going to be like. When I did finally get a hold of them I felt like I was a inconvenience to them and they were rather rude with me (which I probably was too, but wouldn't you be a little upset after trying that many times to get someone to return your call on more than one matter?). Customer service goes a long way and to be honest I was so upset for a while that I was actually considering having the surgery somewhere else. Maybe I just caught his office staff on a bad month, remember these are my own personal impressions and others might have no problems at all.
Both his surgical competence and his bedside manner were great. I really liked him both as a Doctor and as a person. (He has a great smile too!) I would recommend him to others.