F. Edward Tenewitz Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

Dr. T and his staff are top rate and VERY professional. I would highly recommend them.

Attending an informative meeting and knowing Dr. Tenewitz was like a magic spell. After that day I started dieting by myself and lost 40 pounds before my surgery day. He is very supportive and makes all his patients aware of our need to comply with the requirements this surgery brings. He is a wonderful MD and excellent human being!

First surgery 3/99. First impression: seemed caring but rushed. How did impression change over time, still seemed rushed and appeared couldnt wait to go to next patient. Office staff at initial time was great, Bonnie was a great help. Initial surgery used metal staples which caused a huge infection. Nurses from Shands explained to me that I was allergic to the staples, I went on wound care with them. There was literally no follow up care at this time, "I gave you a tool, you are responsible for it." Despite expressing concerns over not continuing to lose weight, no action was taken to ascertain as to why I stopped losing weight.

Second surgery 10/2002. Automobile accident 5/2002 my primary care and neurologist expressed concerns over my pouch. Upper GI (which should have been acted upon back in 99) disclosed food appeared to be emptying out of the pouch as fast as I ate, hence always hungry and not losing weight. Further investigation disclosed that initially a band was not placed on the intestine leading out of the pouch, which caused the intestine to stretch over time. This procedure was available and used at the time of the initial surgery, but not practiced here.

The second surgery also involved a fee where we were to pay for office visits and meetings. 400.00 which was not covered by insurance. I found it was covered my insurance, I even gave the Dr.'s office the CPT code. When I explained that I was unable to come up with the monies all at one time, Dr. T. had no problem being quite clear that my surgery would be cancelled. So what does the term medically necessary mean anyway. I borrowed the monies, I had no choice according to my primary care, I was getting sicker. What was most disconcerting is the meetings that I was "forced" to pay for were the same that are offered for free to others interested in the surgery.

I had been assured that Dr. T would not use staples, the hospital even placed a red band on my arm indicating the allergy. Despite this Dr. T AGAIN used the staples. Did I get another infection, you bet, do I have an even worse scar you bet.

I am glad Dr. T. has been able to assist so many others in a positive manner. But unfortunately for me I am paying a personal price for my personal negative experience at the hands of someone I was to trust and believe in. This is just my experience, mine alone and is not indicative of many others experience. Afterall, I choose to have the surgery, no one made me.

Well, now I'm working on ANOTHER surgeon. Insurance has denied me twice for Dr. Marema because he is out of my network....HMO. So I tried with Dr. Estigarribia ?? and I could not get a consultation until Dec 12...too long of a wait. Now I am seeking Dr. Tenewitz who is in Melbourne, FL. I live in the Ft. Myers area and I cannot believe that I have to drive 4 hours to see a physician who is "in network". Well, I'll keep trying until someone can do this surgery.

I'm very pleased with Dr. T. When I attended my 1st Support Meeting, I thought he was very quiet & shy. Then I attended a 2nd Meeting & noticed Dr. T becoming more open. During my Consultation we had a few laughs & that just made things even more comfortable. I was concerned about the 5-Page Book of Questions I had for him & if he would sit there patiently & answer all of them, to my surprise: HE DID! He was very informative, patient & honest. He explained the risks, benefits & stressed the Extreme Importance of the Aftercare Program. I'm also very impressed with the Pre-Op Educational Class they have. The Staff have been very patient, kind & helpful. They give you every possible way of getting in contact with them: Office #, E-mail, Pager #'s, Home #'s, Fax #'s, etc...

My journey to the new me started on 2/5/03.I went to the info meeting with my wife in melbourne. We were realy impressed,we got there early, and to our suprise a post- op meeting was in progress.Being able to see and here from post-op paitents was mind boggling."We were impressed",to say the least.Our meeting followed and was attended by close to 100 people. Dr. T,Lisa,Dr. cotton,Roxie,Becky,and other staff members talked and answeres questions.I immediatly knew I was in the right place. The decission was made at that moment.My wife and I looked at each other and said we found the right Doctor.Dr. T's talk was not on the surgery, but the after care.He stressed IF YOU FOLLOW WHAT WE TELL YOU TO DO,YOU WILL SUCCEED.I needed that ,I need to have a structured program.I need to be told ( Its my way or the highway)You know what I mean.The results now in my mind now outweigh the risks I'm going for it.

13 feb

Met with Dr. Tenewitz today. At first he seemed like he was rushing us through what he had to say, but there was a lot to go through and he gave us a lot of time to answer any questions we had. I've spoken with former patients of Dr. Tenewitz and everyone's said nothing but great things about him and his work. I feel very confident putting my life in his hands.

Dr. Tenewitz is an extremely professional and comptetent surgeon. I'm glad I've got his expertise in my corner.

15 jan

My first impression of Dr. Tenewitz was that he is intelligent and honest. He told people in the group meeting that certain insurance carriers would not touch a patient under a certain BMI and that certain insurance carriers won't cover the surgery at all.

He went on to tell people that this surgery is not the panacea people think it is. This is just one step in a whole process of life changes to allow someone to be healthy and live long again.

As far as aftercare, Dr. Tenewitz is probably one of the toughest I've seen. To him, aftercare is EVERYTHING because, as he says, if you follow the aftercare instructions, you've got a great chance of succeeding with this.

If you're thinking about heading to Melbourne to see Dr. Tenewitz, learn as much as humanly possible about the surgery and don't even go unless you've a good idea as to what's involved and what you're getting in to.

I was very impressed with Dr. Tenewitz and his staff. His support system is the greatest.

Dr. Tenewitz is friendly and very knowledgeable. He is easy to talk to, including his whole staff. His team seem very helpful and down to earth. Many of them are his post-op patients, which is kinda nice!

Honestly I am so happy and thrilled to be one of his new patients! He took his time answering all my questions, and he never rushed me, or my visit. He explained everything to me (in regualr language)first hand, what to expect post-op the strict after care and how the actual procedure is done. I am very pleased so far.

2/22/03...I have only seen Dr Tenewitz once during a personal-patient office visit. He was very business-minded and informative. I have seen him at many pre-op support meetings (as well as attending the post-op support meeting after the pre-op meetings) and find him to be a well-respected surgeon in his field. He has many appreciative patients attending the post-op sessions. I hope to be one of them before long (3/24/03). His office staff is very supportive and available for questions/information. They stress aftercare as most important; very vital to good health after surgery. Through the support meetings through Dr T's office, and information on obesityhelp.com, surgery risks are thoroughly explained.