Joseph M. Dalton Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

Dr. Dalton gave me an a sense of comfort. He was upfront and honest and yet very gentle in his manner. Dr. Dalton is extremely professional. He is very efficent, coming in and getting right to the point. He spoke of the benefits and potential complications, including death. He stressed to me how important it is to follow the protocal and if I didn't I could have major problems. With him aftercare is stressed greatly. A good friend of mine referred me to Dr. Dalton, although my friend did not have the gastric bypass, he spoke very highly of Dr. Dalton in regards to the services he recieved. So far I am glad that I have picked Dr. Dalton to be my surgen. I went through 2 other Dr.'s and at the last minute I was told about Dr. Dalton, that is when I made my final decision (of course after meeting with him).

My first impression of Dr. Dalton was that he was a lot younger than I expected him to be! However, he was very straight-forward and knowledgeable when explaining both the gastric and Lap-band procedures. I felt completely comfortable talking to him and asking him questions.

My second meeting with Dr. Dalton was great. He didn't seem rushed and answered all of my questions and made me feel completely comfortable with my choice. Rate him A+ so far...future updates after surgery.

First impression of Dr. Dalton was he is a caring Dr. and very thorough with explaining details. I thought he was very nice and also very young (but all Drs. look young to me now) His Office staff is pleasant but not overly friendly and fakey.

Dr. Dalton is pretty much a no nonsense, "straight no chaser" surgeon.

My impression of him is still the same, not touchy feely, but overall appears to be extremely competent.

Dr. Dalton's Virginia Beach Surgery staff is highly competent. Expedited my follow up appt and efficiently handled my insurance approval.

Can't say there's anything I don't particularly like about the surgeon.

I think Dr. Dalton strongly emphasizes aftercare as well as a support group for weight loss surgery. His Virginia Beach Surgery Clinic has and official support group that meets every 1st Tuesday of each month from 7pm-9pm at the Health Education Center, acrosee from Sentara Virginia General Hospital Emergency Room.

Dr. Dalton was very helpful in addressing all of my preliminary research questions. He validated, clarified and confirmed the bariatric process and gave me multiple options.

Overall, I would rate Dr. Dalton a "9" since I haven't actually had the procedure yet.

Surgical competence ranks high in my book, nobody wants and incompetent fool with great bedside manner!!!

Dr. Dalton was very nice and easy to talk to. He was willing to discuss my concerns and wories. His staff was wonderful and very flexibke when it came to scheduling my surgery date. My actual date is October 25th. I am having second thoughts and talked with Tammy(surgery coordinator) to discuss my concerns. She scheduled another appointment where I can discuss my concerns and bring a family member. She also gave me support group contact information. If I choose to go through with the surgery, I will be happy knowing that he will be my surgeon. He made it very clear about how I need to take care of myself and has provided the name of a nutritionist and the address of the local support group. We discussed the risks associated with the surgery. Overall, I am very pleased. A surgeon need to be surgically competent and have a pleasant bedside manner.

Dr. Dalton Was a great surgeon, he is young and very knowledgeable about the procedure although I found out from internet research and support groups that he didn't know alot about aftercare, I learned more about that on my own. He tries to do the lap procedure whenever possible and made me feel extremely comfortable during the surgery process. The insurance approval was easy, his office staff was great. He has a nutritionist he works with who also attends the support group but I have found more of my answers on my own by "talking" with others on line. During the initial 6 weeks after surgery I followed his advice quite closely. Dr. Dalton was very particular about discussing the risks of the surgery. I would rate his A1 in all aspects and both in surgical competence and bedside manner. You can't go wrong if you choose Dr. Dalton as your surgeon.

Scheduled to meet him on December 5, 2000.I met with Dr. Dalton and he was very helpful in answering all my questions. At first I was not sure, thinking I might prefer an older doctor who specialized only in bariatric surgery but after meeting him a second time, I knew I had made the right decision in going to his office. First of all they have not lost a patient yet. And Dr. Dalton is not a hurried, rushed type of doctor who seems to be only interested in making money from another's misfortune. He genuinely seems to care for his patients. After my surgery, he visited me every day and if I had a question, he would sit and talk to me as if I was in his office. Waylaying any fears or concerns I might have. His staff is very pleasant. The receptionist, Karen, always knows my name when she sees me. (that alone impresses me because I am bad with names). His scheduling nurse, Tammy, seems a bit overworked or perhaps she was out sick during the time I was trying to get my appointments set for the psychiatrist and nutritionist and my hospital visit set up because she did not call me back so I did have to call her again and stress on her voice-mail that I was calling again. I had a concern about my insurance coverage and she then called me immediately to let me know everything was good.
So far, I cannot say there is anything I don't like about Dr. Dalton or Dr. O'Grady who also visited me in the hospital. Dr. Dalton is younger and has only been performing this procedure for 2 or 3 years now whereas Dr. O'Grady has probably 10 years experience on him. Dr. O'Grady is the head of surgery at Virginia Beach General Hospital though and getting an appointment with him would take longer than Dr. Dalton. As I said before, I was not sure at first due to Dr. Dalton's brief career thus far but I can vouch for him now 100%. He was wonderful and I would refer anyone interested in having this surgery that lives in the area to him in a second. He explained all the risks of surgery to me very well but I did not walk in there without knowing a thing. I had a full page of questions and he answered every one of them for me.
I am two months post-op but had a small problem with my incision so I am still under Dr. Dalton's care until my incision is healed. Then I will go back every 6 months. In the meantime, his office at Virginia Beach Surgery (www.vabeachsurgery.com) has monthly support meetings for those needing support or wanting more information about having surgery.
I would rate Dr. Dalton as both surgically competent and with a very good bedside manner. If you are thinking of having surgery and live in Tidewater, go see him or Dr. O'Grady for a consultation, before choosing a bariatric surgeon who may not be the overall surgeon because they are more hurried, rushed, have more patients than they can handle and their bedside manner may leave a little less to be desired.
Both Dr. Dalton and Dr. O'Grady are thought of very highly at Virginia Beach Hospital by the nurses and staff I spoke to which made me feel so much good to have chosen their practice.