Joseph M. Vitello Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

MET WITH DR. VITELLO. VERY NICE AND VERY PATIENT. DESCRIBED THE PROCEDURE IN GREAT DETAIL WITH ALL FO THE GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD EFFECTS IT COULD HAVE. ON FRIDAY 3/02/01 I RECEIVED THE APPROVAL FROM MY HMO. IAM SO EXCITED AND READY TO DO TNHIS AND CHANGE MY LIFE PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY FOREVER.

Very serious and wants you to realize that this is serious business. He goes right into the risks of the surgery so you can see just what can go wrong.
I think Dr. Vitello is really a comedian in desguise. He is very funny and will answer any and all questions you might have. He took all the time in the world with me before and after surgery. I think on a scale of 1-10 he is a 12. He is very good at what he does.
The office staff is very nice and friendly. they treat you like a queen. Which we are in reality. :-)
There is really nothing I do not like about Dr. Vitello. He is straight forward and tells you exactly like it is. He can also be very funny. That may take some work on your part. :-)
I think all the people who are in the Chicago area that are thinking about having this surgery call Dr. Vitello. He is the best at what he does. He was very happy with my surgery becasue I was considered a re-do. He was really looking at 4-6 hours of surgery with me. When he got inside he said he had such a easy time that he was doing a happy dance. The surgery took only 3 hours 45 minutes. That made his job much easier. He is all smiles when things go very smoothly.
All I can say is that I'm very glad that I have had this surgery and I feel truly blessed that I had Dr. Vitello as my surgeon. I could not have had a better Dr. Like I said before He is the best in the Chciago area.
I would recommed him in a heart beat....

Yeah, I know it's gonna sound like all I'm doing is singing this man's praises... but it's how I feel!

Dr. Joseph Vitello is gentle and very kind. I was impressed from the moment he shook my hand. He was thorough and honest.

His office staff are nice, though I feel not as polite as he is. At times I feel rushed around them. I have a hard time getting a hold of him or his staff on the phone, which can be annoying. And even if I DO get them, I generally can't talk as long as I'd like to before they tell me they have to go. However, Dr. V does have e-mail and he's really pretty good about replying in a day or so if you send him a message.

Those who plan on seeing him, know that he'll answer ANY question you have. And he listens. When he's with you, you're the only thing he focuses on. I really like that. He doesn't care if the meeting lasts 10 minutes or 1/2 an hour.

He doesn't seem to emphasize after care that much, at least, not supervised. He seems to let you go on your own unless you have complications. He's the first one to tell you that too. He believes that the best healing for a patient comes from the patient themselves. I don't like this, as there were several things I still didn't understand (despite all my researching on WLS) and felt that Dr. V didn't have a lot of resources available to help answer my questions and such. I have passed this site on to him, however, and HIGHLY recommended he tell his patients about it.

When I went in for the consultation he immediately spent almost an hour telling me the complications. He didn't lie or "pad" the information. He gave it to me straight. And I admit I was scared to DEATH when I walked out of his office! I take that as a good sign though. As much as I admire Carnie Wilson for making public the whole wls issue... the media I feel has also "glamorized" her surgery. It's just not like that for real and Dr. V will be the FIRST to tell you that!

If I were to rate Dr. Vitello on a scale from 1-10... I'd have to give him a 12 at least!

I have met with Dr V. only once. My first encounter went very well. I did not feel as though I was being bombarded with medical jargon that was not understandable. He seemed to be very patient and overall very pleasant. I think that I will meet with him one more time before surgery in April. I am very confident that I have made the correct decision for a surgeon for this procedure.

He has spoken to me on the phone three times already. He seems nice and very helpful. I had a little problem with my doctor's referral but he gave me pointers. I have a good feeling about him. Feb.08,01 Met with Dr. Vitello at UIC. He seems like a surgeon, not a lot of bedside mannor, but a lot of successes. He is straight forward and nothing spectacular about the first visit. He said just wait about 2 weeks and start calling my PCP. I weighed in at 307lbs. yuk. He did not say anything about a psych eval or nutritional eval. Maybe he waits to see if the HMO will cover his services first.
Feb. 16,01 the PCP office has not heard anything yet from the surgeon. I will try to contact his nurse Mary, on Monday to see the progress. I am biting my nails.

02/16/01 Yesterday I had my first consult with Dr. Vitello and his nurse. My first impression of Dr. Vitello is that he is a very friendly physician. He explained the procedure in detail providing a chart of the procedure. What I was most impressed with was Dr. Vitello provided me with a copy of his own personal surgery statistics. It showed the number of complications patients have had with him, the type of complication the patient had, what preventative measures are taken now and he provides us with the sucess/ failure rate of his patients loosing their excess weight. I was incredbily impressed with this. I found him to be honest and upfront about the surgery. He spoke a lot of the life style change in our eating habits and our part in making the surgery a sucess. The next step for me is insurance approval. I will let you know how that goes. I also attended a seminar given by Weight for Life by Dr. Kane. While I can respect Dr. Kane's knowledge, I felt that he was giving all of us a sales pitch and I was at a sales presentation. With Dr. Vitello I felt that I was treated as a patient and not a customer. I would recommend him at this point.

01/11/01 I had my first meeting with Dr. Vitello and I think he was wonderful. Although I had a list of questions to ask his explanations about the surgery answered most of them. He told me the pros and cons and was very professional without being over baring. I elected to have the surgery because without it I would still have to go through another surgery for my gastral reflux which he said would be eliminated with this procedure.
I am now waiting approval from my insurance company.

I have spoken with Dr.Vitello on the phone and had many email contacts with him.I have an appt. with him 2-15-01 and am looking forward to it.He has been wonderful about answering questions and returning calls and email especially since he handles most every thing himself and is a very busy man.He never makes you feel like he's to busy to talk with you which is in my opinion a wonderful traite to have in a Dr. . Will write more after my appt. Dawn

Dr. Vitello is very straight foward. He sets up his appointments himself. When I first met him I liked him. My impression hasn't changed about him. He's a very, very busy man, and I cannot always talk to him He's a great person.
He will make sure that you know the risks involved. I would recommend him to anybody interested in the surgery.

I would not change a thing about my surgery journey other than to have waited to have ALL my tests done in Chicago (had many pre-ops done in Florida out of pocket) & to have contacted Dr. Vitello much sooner, though by waiting I had a good comparison of other surgeons I was in contact with, so maybe I wouldn't change that.

Dr. Vitello & his staff were terrific. It went smoothly all the way. Typical problems with nurse station not answering my pages (I hear that's common), but staff & care were great. I would recommend a teaching hospital to all - I've heard war stories about regular hospitals for this surgery. Many in the "industry" still do not validate this is as the life-saving surgery it is.

The only problem others might have with Dr. Vitello is that you really need to do your own homework. He supplies you with material to prepare you & for follow-up, but not as extensively as others. Use the internet & meet other surgeons in your area. Attend groups. Then, FLY TO CHICAGO to have it done! That's my advice.