J.K. Champion Bariatric Surgeon

I was really impressed with Dr. Champion at my consult visit. I had a whole page of questions when I went in and by the time he got through explaining everything I had 2 questions that he had not answered. He is very professional and I am glad he will be doing my surgery. His office staff where very helpful and nice also. He did address the risks of this sugery very well and I feel like I am well informed and know what to expect when I have it. I would rate Dr. Champion as a 9. I feel that surgical competence is the best for a doctor but it is always nice if they have a good bedside manner. I know that no one is perfect but out of all the Dr.'s I checked into I feel more comfortable going with him.

Very competent and knowlegable.


Office Staff is very busy, but helpful.






Aftercare has been improved a great deal since I had my surgery. It is now much more detailed.
Has both Live support group and a very active on-line support group.

Outstanding Surgeon

Dr. Champion is aces. Everything I've heard about his skill is true. His website is outstanding http://www.drchampion.com/

All I know is what I've read from other peoples accounts of him here. His staff has been THE MOST sincere and supportive that I have dealt with of the 5 or 6 I tried. He is a lond ways away, clear across the country, and he seems to kind of run a WLS mill, but sometimes I think that's a good thing because he has alot of experience, and he has alot of of very satisfied customers.

I am considering Dr. Champion in Atlanta and Dr. Gonzalez in Winston Salem NC. Dr. Champion's office has sent the first letter to Insurance company. I have an appointment with Dr. Gonzalez on 2/16/01 for a consultation. I have been in contact with two of Dr. Champion's post op patients and they have strong "glowing" opinions of Dr. Champion. As a matter of fact, there are three members of the family that are patients of Dr. Champion! Dr. Champion has performed over 600 bariatric surgeries and all of his professional experience is posted on the internet. There is a longer "wait time" for scheduling surgery but sometimes it is well worth the wait. I will have more information about Dr. Gonzalez after I see him on 2/16/01. At that time I will have more information on his experience in laprascopic gastric bypass surgeries,curriculum vitae background and mortality rate.

2/19/01 - I decided to cancel my appointment with Dr. Gonzalez because I decided to go with Dr. Champion in Atlanta. Saturday 2/17/01 I received a copy of the letter Dr. Champion wrote to my insurance company and after I read it I knew that I wanted him to be my surgeon. I did not hear anything negative about Dr. Gonzalez. I made my decision based on Dr. Champion's surgical skills and extensive experience with the Laprascopic procedure and after talking to several very happy post op patients of Dr. Champion. Everyone says that he wants only the best for his patients and is a perfectionist about following his structured
aftercare program. I know that this
approach is the best one for me. Now the "waiting game" begins with the insurance company!!

3/05/01 - I have been approved!! It took about two weeks from the time cigna received the first letter. I am so impressed with the way Dr. Champion connects with his patients! On Sunday afternoon, I e-mailed a question to Dr. Champion's e-mail address and
just a few hours later, Dr. Champion himself responded with the answer!

February 26, 2001.My daughter and I had our first consultation with Dr. Champion on Monday. We were very impressed. Of course, he started out flattering me immensely. He asked who was the mother and who was the daugher??? LOL. He answered all of our questions, gave us detailed information as to the process of approval, pre-op tests, and surgery. He gave us easy-to-understand drawings of the surgery. He explained the risks to us, yet made us feel less apprehensive. I have done a lot of research on the internet, and I feel very comfortable with my choice. I did read one comment about a bad bedside manner, but I found him very approachable and easy to talk to. He seemed very relaxed and NOT in a hurry. Perhaps after I have had my surgery and am in the hospital room (possibly suffering a little), I might feel differently. I definitely rate surgical competence at the top of the list. A great bedside manner is just the icing on the cake. The office staff was pleasant. There was only one time that I felt a little uncomfortable--I was surprised that I had to pay $140 (and of course my daughter didn't have any money, so I had to pay $280. I did remember later that the packet of materials we had received did state that the letter to the insurance company was $50, and $90 would be the charge for the office visit. I had just forgotten about it.

Prior to surgery, I met with him a total of 2 times. Once was for the initial get acquainted session and to tell him that I'm ready for the surgery and the second time to give him my portion of the payment and to meet the nutritionist. He was a real nice guy, seemed real down to earth and really preached that I could call the office and speak to them about any types of questions or problems that arise. One thing that I noticed, since I work in the medical field myself, was that Dr Champion "never" did a physical exam on me, never palpated my abdomen--that he was planning on cutting into or anything. He did not even require an Upper GI Series to be sure there was no pre-existing problem. The other surgeons that I have gone to for things, have always been thorough and done this simply little things that could make a big difference.
On the 2nd day "after" surgery, while I was still laying in my hospital bed and quite sore, I called him at his office and asked him why I kept having blood coming up in my mouth. This is where things really turned around..Dr Champion "went off" on me. And instead of answering a simply little question, he told me that "I needed to quit being soo anxious and I just needed to calm it down. I had this tube and that tube down your esophagus during surgery and you're going to get some bleeding". WELL ! Not only has my anxiety "always" been at a flat ZERO , but this man was yelling at a person who just had their guts sliced open 2 days prior and who called just to ask a simple question, for no reason at all. Maybe if he had told me about having tubes in my throat during the procedure, I would have figured out where the bleeding was coming from myself, but the only thing he ever mentioned was the 6 holes on my abdomen. AND to further make things worse, Dr Champion was contacted by my Internal Med Doctor a few days later, and when my doctor called me at home, He told me that Champion had "went off" on his nurse practitioner and on himself! ---and this is the Doc that gave Champ the referral to begin with!
I am now going on 3 weeks postop, and luckily no complications so far, cause I SURELY WILL NEVER GO BACK TO DR CHAMPION AGAIN!
The one good thing that I can say is that Champion did do a good job by making small and real neat incisions that are going to disappear without hardly a mark.
His office staff are real nice and helpful via telephone.
Overall Rating=the man should get out of medicine, since his patients are a bother to him.
This was my experience, I hear from others that they had a good experience with him. I guess it just wasnt gonna be my week.

I have not met him personaly yet. I meet him the day before surgery. I have talked with him on his monthly chat and I have talked the the people in his office and they are all very helpful. I did a great deal of reaearch on the internet before I chose a suregon. I am very happy with him and his team so far.

Because I'm several states away I have the option of not meeting the doctor until the day before surgery. I feel confident enough in my choice of doctors to accept this.


Office staff is friedly and helpful.

What I like most about his is his care for pacients(sp) after surgery. He doesn't say see ya and that is the end. He has support groups for pre and post op. He also has a wonderful egroup to help with out of town people like myself. It is a very caring group.



The reason I chose Dr C over any other Dr is that he is very good at what he does. It is important to me to have RNY done Lap and he has done over 500 Lap to date. You can't ask for much more experience than that. There is a wonderful Dr in my home town. If I would have chosen him I would not have to pay a single dime for this surgery. With Dr C I will have travel costs plus some %of the fees but for me it is worth the extra costs to go to Dr C.

I will not meet my Dr. until my surgery, (that goes to show the trust I have for the praise given by his other pt's on this site) So far his office has been more than helpful with my questions and my insurance.

DR CHAMPION WAS WONDERFUL. I AM SOOOOO EXCITED.STAFF WAY TO BUSY BUT... THEY HAVE A LOT OF STUFF TO DO