Latham Flanagan Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

I had surgery in in 1990 and and now need to contact him or whom he turned his pratice over to I understand he reitired, thanks

Dr. Flanagan is very intelligent and compassionate. Although he is very serious.

I found Dr. Flanagan to be very busy!!! I was fortunate to get approved for surgery be fore he stopped doing them as of November 1,2004. Since then he has more time to spend with his post op patients. He seems more relaxed and easy to talk to. Dr. is very strict, but I like that.

THe office staff is very nice and compassionate.

I would rate him on a scale from 1-10 an 11!

He seemed knowladgeable but his bed side maner had much to be desired.

My first impression of Dr. Flanagan was that he seemed to be very skilled in his practice and that I felt safe in his care. My impression has changed in the fact that I owe this man so much, because he has helped me to make my life so much better. The office staff is fabulous. Any questions I have they will answer them, and they always are so happy at my progress and to see how I'm doing. I really had no bad feelings about Dr. Flanagan. I had heard rumors about him before surgery that he had a bad bedside manor and he was cold. But when I met him and interacting with him he was fabulous to both me and my family. People looking to go to him should realize that he is happy and kindhearted with you when you do things the way they need to be done. But when you don't follow his instructions he is going to be cold and unsympathetic. If you follow his instructions he is great. He has a very structured and well planned out after care. He tells you what to do, when to do it, and helps to keep you on track. When discussing with him the surgery he explained everything really well, told me all of the risks and everything that could happen to me. He laid it all out on the table and told me that it is my decision and that I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to do. I would give him a 10. I felt that he gave me all the information I needed and more and has been very supportive about everything. I think that for some people his surgical competence is better. But I feel that both were fabulous. I would recomend him to anyone thinking of going through with weight loss surgery.

very thorough intelligent.Feel the same now. Staff very friendly.He can be a little arrogant/closed minded. He is meticulus and strongheaded but it all helps you to have a excellent surgical procedure which is what really counts.Aftercare is emphasized strongly with a choice of groups and areas. He was very thorough in addressing the surgery and poss. comp.I would give him high ratings overall but more as a surgeon than in bedside manner. He is retiring and I am moving is why I seek a new DR

DR FLANAGAN IS A VERY INTELLIGENT MAN, BOTH MY HAUSBAND AND I ENJOYED TALKING WITH HIM. HIS STAFF IS WONDERFUL, KAREN IS THE GREATEST AT HELPING YOU FIGHT THE INSURANCE COMPANY. DR FLANAGAN PUTS A GREAT EMPHASIS ON AFTERCARE, AND THERE ARE MONTHLY SUPPORT MEETINGS. HE IS VERY BLUNT ABOUT THE RISKS AND WHERE YOU FALL ON THE RISK SCALE. THAT SCARED MY HUSBAND. HE'S NOT A REAL TOUCHY FEELY TYPE OF DOCTOR, SO HIS BEDSIDE MANNER LEAVES A LITTLE TO BE DESIRED. HE'S VERY STICK TO THE FACTS AND RISKS KIND OF PERSON. I CHOSE HIM MAINLY BECAUSE HE WAS IN MY HOME TOWN AND MY FAMILY WOULD BE HERE FOR SUPPORT. HE IS A VERY WELL KNOWN SURGEON AND HIGHLY RESPECTED IN HIS FIELD. HE IS RETIRING THIS YEAR.

1/27/03 I have not met him yet, I had my visit with my pcp today and she gave me a referrel to him. I will write more when I know anything.

2/6/03 I talked to Dr.McConnel's office and found out they don't have any consult appointments open until June and they won't let you schedule an appointment until you have gone to a seminar. They don't even have appointments for the seminars until May! So, I told them to send me the information on signing up for that and I still have not received anything from their office.
Then I checked out the statements on this board from Dr. Flanagan's patients who were very impressed and happy with him. I read that he was the President of The American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS)1999-2000, he has done more than 1500 WLS and has been a surgeon for 25 years, so I am going with him now. I called and talked to his office in Eugene and found out that I can get a consult as soon as March and if your insurance approves you, you can get surgery within a month or two. I asked them to send out the paperwork, I got it in two days. That is a good sign. They send out an information book that tells about each step of the process of the surgery so you can be prepared with questions when you go to the consult. They also include a support group schedule so you can meet people that have gone through it and share your concerns. He sends the paperwork for you to fill out for insurance and includes very explicit instructions on how to fill it out. He also states in the letter that you do not have to convince him in such detail that you need bariatric surgery if you are morbidly obese, however, the sad fact is that you have to prove you are "sick enough" to the insurance company. So, that must be why he is such a stickler for detail. The surgeon's office requires you to fill out all the paperwork for medical history, insurance, diets you have been on, a copy of your medical records for the last 5 years and any surgeries you have had before they will even make an appointment for a consult. I got all the paperwork filled out and sent it in the next day. I made a copy of everything I sent them just in case it gets lost. I figure, that way, it won't get lost. (It never does if you are prepared for it, hehe). I sent it registered mail with a signed label to be returned to me to know when and if they got it. They received it 2/5/03. So, now I am waiting on the surgeon's office to call me to make an appointment for my consult. They have to go through all the paperwork to make sure it is completely filled out and there are no mistakes because they want the insurance to approve it on the first try. I will update when I hear anything from them.

2/27/03 My insurance approved my consult, so I called the office to let them know the authorization number and tell them how long it was good for. (My insurance only authorizes things for a specific time frame.) I was a little put off by the fact that when I called to talk to the woman that makes the appointments and is the surgeon's assistant, she asked me to hold, then passed me off to someone else and wouldn't even talk to me. She had the other woman tell me she was still looking over the paperwork and would call when they had gone through it all. She also said they would call back within 7 days. So, I had to give my insurance information to the other woman to give to her in a message. It bugged me because it was like she couldn't even take one minute to bother with me. She has been friendly before, maybe she is just too busy? I will update when I know anything else.

3/8/03 Well, they didn't call me back, surprise, surprise. I am going to call them on Monday. I'll update if I find out anything new.

I realize I have never written about my visits, so I guess I better get that down. He didn't seem gruff like some people said, although he did seem to want to talk about himself a lot, which I felt wasted time and is one reason he is so behind with his appointments. Maybe he wants to get to know you, but doesn't really seem to care about what you have to say. :) My husband and I sat around a long time while he does 5 different things during my appointment time. I think if he scheduled to talk to me and nothing else, he could be done in less than an hour, but the way it is set up, we were there for over 3 hours. I didn't have many questions because I have researched everything so much. He only does open surgery, no lap. He is very knowledgeable about his business. His staff is very friendly when you are there in person. He has a very structured aftercare program that spells everything out exactly. No guessing here! He told me the risks and asked if I had questions about them. The doctor did not get my insurance letter written for around 3 weeks, but finally got it in.

11/04/03
Well, I finally got my surgery on 10/08/03. Dr. Flanagan did an excellent job. I had no complications at all. I had my surgery on Wednesday and left the hospital on Saturday. He comes to see you every morning and evening you are in the hospital to check on you. He makes you feel like you are doing everything wrong, but when he saw me on the last day he told me I had been an excellent patient, so maybe he just doesn't want you to get too lax in your efforts??? His staff is very nice and his nurse came by to see how I was doing one day too. He said he is not going to accept TriCare any more because they don't pay enough, and kind of made me feel guilty about my insurance, but I would rate him an excellent surgeon. I always think it is better if you can have both great surgical competence and bedside manner, but I would definately say that surgical competence is the most important. All statements made are my personal opinion about my personal experiences. I will not be updating this page anymore, I will post any updates to my profile.

Very much an old school surgeon with an old school surgeons bedside manner. I like his cut to the chase manner, but I could see how he might scare some folks. After my husband's surgery we noticed the old school surgeon attitude appearing suddenly and successfully when he felt the nursing staff did not do their job.

If you want a teddy bear touchy feely doctor - he isn't for you, but if you want a good doctor who really wants you to success even if he has scold you to do it he is it.

He has a structured after care program the office returns call I will have to wait until after my surgery to give full details

Dr Flanagan was extremely open about the risks of surgery, his statistics, and discussed them all in detail more than once. We really pushed to have Flanagan do our surgery as he is retiring at the end of the year.

I personally feel competence is better, I can get strokes from family and friends I want a doctor that knows his stuff.

Dr Flanagan and his office handled the insurance company completely after the first office visit, he made the calls arranged the follow medical test required by the insurance company. They didn't just toss it back to us after the first expected rejection. I was impressed and felt comfortable leaving the details in their hands.

At first, I found him to be really gruff. And he seemed hard on me. But, very quickly, I saw how much he cared for my well-being and for me to come through the surgery with flying colors so I could lose the weight. Now, I see that he just wanted the best for me. He really cared about my safety. His office staff has been wonderful! They are all there to answer any questions or concerns thar may arise. They're great.The thing I liked least was his gruffness. When I went in, I wasn't prepared for that. But, I also wasn't prepared for a doctor who cared and wanted the best for me.
He and the nurses do really stress the importance of aftercare. And yes, they do have a structured aftercare program for us to follow. He was and is very concerned about the risks of this surgery for me. Because I am not too far into this, I could not tell anyone how I would rate him for surgery and aftercare. From what I know and how he has worked with me so far, I would rate him pretty high. I would like to see more doctors have both surgical competence and bedside manners. So far though, I see his competence higher than his bedside manners. He does care about his patients a lot. As long as we follow his guidelines and teachings, we--you and myself--will come through this. We will be smaller-weight-wise,but we have a great leader to follow.

My husband and I drove from Medford to Eugene to meet Dr. Flannigan. We were so impressed after our 3 hour consult. He was so understanding and kind and made me feel like being overweight was not my fault. I could hardly wait to have the surgery. I was committed and determined to be a successs. I had my surgery and the first time Dr. Flannigan came in I had a rude awakening. Where was this understanding, compassionate doctor I had met in his office?
I was so suprised at the amount of pain I had and mentioned it to the nurse. When Dr. Flannigan came in the next time I felt he reamed me out about complaining about the pain. I followed his instructions to the minute detail and lost the first 135 lbs so fast. I felt good and looked good. But everytime I went back to Dr. Flannigan I felt he beratted me for one thing or another. Maybe I am thin skinned, but it got so I was so afraid of him and eventually I just could not get the nerve up to go back for an appointment.
His office staff was always friendly and courteous. I was amazed they always seemed to know me when I called. With all of his patients, they couldn't possibly keep all of us straight.
When I was at 200 lbs, my lowest weight, I was diagnosed with Lupus and put on high doses of prednisone. I was hungry all the time. I never ate very much, but I ate too often and started the upward spirile. There was no way I could go back to Dr. Flannigan now, I couldn't even imagine what he would say to me. Within a year I had both knees replaced and surgeries on both feet. Walking for excercise came to a halt.
Well, I am 6 years post surgery now. I would love to have a revision, as I am on the diet merry go round, Atkins, Dr. Phil, no fat, etc. Of course, we all know if one of these had worked the surgery wouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
Well, that's my story. I was painfully honest. I am so ashamed that I waisted the best opportunity of my life to lose this weight.