Marshall Orloff Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

After reading many of the reviews you all wrote, I can see that Dr. Orloff has made you happy with your bariatric issues. I on the other hand have a completely different view of Dr. Orloff. Okay, he seems to have a pleasant bedside manner and has been at UCSD for years. Unfortunately, my experience with him is not such a pretty picture. Here goes; I am now approaching the 9 year death date of my only daughter Sarah. Sarah died at age 10. rnDr. Orloff performed a surgery on her at age 4. Through the referral of Sharon Taylor, a specialist at Childrens Hospital in San Diego, Dr. Orloff and Taylor concurred that my daughter needed an emergency surgery to save her life. They presented Dr. Orloff as the Only specialist in this field and how lucky I was to be living in San Diego. They also presented my daughter's condition as being so \"rare\". I trusted them. Orloff (in hindsite now) did not pay attention to signs that my daughter was NOT a candidate for his surgery. The events that followed post surgery were out of control. Then my daughter fell between the cracks of the scratching their head doctors that provide care in San Diego. Needless to say the surgery was a failure and left her with another condition that eventually killed her. Had I left my daughter in the care of Orloff, she would have eventually been cut to pieces. Orloff was always ready and able to provide new evidence that my young daughter needed more drastic surgeries. Neither of them would at anytime provide me second opionion options. They both stated they knew of no one who could help me. I frantically searched the UCSD library and came up with some interesting info. UCLA, had a PEDIATRIC specialist who was quite familiar with my daughter's condition. I pulled my daughter out of the hospital, Pending yet another cut up job by Orloff and rushed her immediately to UCLA. The education I received at UCLA and subsequently more info as I researched the world was truly an eye opener. I never brought my daughter to UCSD (Orloff) or San Diego (Childrens) gastro department again. My research uncovered that my daughter's condition was not so rare. The operation was a big mistake and post operative she developed blood pressures so high they were out of control. We never were able to get them back in control, she died from them. I had taken her to Stanford and she was awaiting a major autokidney transplant to try and repair the damage. First of all, Orloff is not a pediatric doctor. I was mislead into trusting these doctors. I do not want to hear that medicine is not a perfect science, I do not want to hear their justifying crap! They could have referred me to SPRCIALISTS or done some research in helping me after my repeated requests. I know in my heart that if Orloff had not touched my daughter, I would still have her! I live with this outrage everyday as he goes on with his life. My advice to you all; Please do your homework. Just because you think he is a nice man, isn't going to fix your problem. Always get a second and third opinion. Go out of the San Diego area for your opinions. You might be surprised. I do not trust Orloff's techniques in any surgery. My story is a greuling one and we paid the highest price for trusting the wrong doctor. If we had lived in an isolated town with minimal care, I would still have her! Also, my insurance company paid Dr. Orloff handsomely for his surgery. Imagine that he even got paid for causing my daughter to get worse. If I could shut Orloff down from practicing I would. I have no way to vent and when I found this site, it was an opportunity for me to warn other people and share my story. It's your body and your life, no matter how he convinces you of his successes, be reluctant and educate yourself. Going under the knife is very serious. Orloff is not one to admit his mistake. He didn't with us. He will however, be happy to collect the insurance check and send you off to another specialist after he creates another problem for you. NEXT, he'll say. After my daughter died do you think I even heard one word from these so called HEALERS? I did educate myself on this, believe me but it was too late.

He was a CREEP!!! Very rude and disrespectful. I believe he was asked to leave or he would be fired!!! Smart move on the part of the UC System. His replacement however, and the team were wonderful.

DR.ORLOFT IS A GREAT DR.HES VERY BIZY HOWEVER LOVING AND TO THE POINT,GREATFUL I,VE CHOOSEN HIM.HIS STAFF IS SOOOO FRIENDLY THE THING I LIKE LEAST IS THE WAITING GAME,THERE AT HIS OFFICE,BRING A SACK LUNCH,MAYBE A DINNER TOOOO.YES THEY DO AFTER CARE HOW EVER I,M NOT THERE YET

very busy,but extreamly likable and caring man. Every visit since then has only gone to strenthen that opinion. His secrtary (Kristina) treats you like you were the only one waiting for services. The only thing you need to know is that you need patience, he is a very busy man. There is a big emphasis on after care,which they go through the week before surgery. Overall I would rate the team about an 8. As for after surgery I have to wait till then for any comments.

SHORT AND TO THE POINT,HES A CARING MAN.VERY SUPPORTIVE.THE TIME IT TOOK AT EACH APPT.IN AT 1:00 OUT AT 5:30.HES A BIZY BIZY MAN SO BE READY TO WAIT.HE MAKE SURE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING UP FRONT-YES- SRAIGHT FORWARD I,M NOT SURE ANYTHING MORE SURGERY PENDING

Dr Orloff, is a Highly experienced surgeon, with fantastic Dr/patiant repore. He thouroughly explaned all aspects of the procedure while entertainingme with his wry sense of humor, which served as a great stress breaker. The appointment lastd 2hrs, most of which was waiting so bring a book.My highest rating.

I was very comfortable with Dr. Orloff and pleased with him. He is a caring physician and made sure his staff treated me well and followed instructions. He collected information on me with politeness and with a professional caring attitude. Dr Orloff is precise and I feel he is by the book. He emphasizes aftercare, diet and taking care of yourself. Material was provided for me to read about the surgery, along with other patients remarks and stories regarding the surgery.
Unfortunately there is no structured program provided by his clinic, but they do have outside sources to refer you to.
Dr Orloff addressed the risks of surgery openly and was very clear about them.
Dr. Orloff is A-OK in my book. I would go back to him in a heart beat and refer anyone to him. The checkups before surgery where very thorough and all questions were answered.
The only thing I wished I had done different is had a more adequate support system to answer my questions postop, to understand why I did not want to eat or drink certain foods, or why I felt physically ill or tired.

Dr. Orloff is a very competent surgeon and, according to him, one of the pioneers of this surgery. He has been doing them for more than 30 years so I knew I was in good hands. He is very kind, soft-spoken, and takes the time to answer questions.

However, I think his aftercare is lacking in a lot of information. I was sent home with very little when I left the hospital except for vitamins, a diet to follow, and prescriptions for pain pills. There was nothing sent home with me to read about the kinds of things I could expect from this new body, like hair loss, extreme nausea, weird pains, etc. There was nothing said about the need for lots of protein and water. Nothing said about possible warning signs of complications. If not for this website, and a couple of friends who have had the same surgery, I would have had no idea what to expect and what kinds of things are warning signs of a serious problem. Very little information is volunteered by Dr. Orloff and his staff, and anything you want to know, you have to ask. Sometimes it is difficult to get a straight answer. I had concerns that the resident I last saw didn't take very seriously at all, such as some right lower back pain I'd been having and blood in my urine. I was told I probably wasn't drinking enough water, which was probably true, but then I ended up in the emergency room where I was diagnosed with an 8 mm kidney stone! One week later, I was diagnosed with a pleural effusion that doctors believe occurred after my surgery but went undiagnosed for some reason. I just think more careful and thorough aftercare and information is necessary.

His office staff are nice for the most part but they are really bad about returning phone calls. You have to stay on top of them to make sure you are helped.

All in all, my experience has been wonderful and this is for the most part a good surgeon who knows his stuff. But he is very, very busy and I think that cuts into the amount of time he is able to provide for thorough aftercare. If you go to him, just make sure you get as much information as you can out of him and make sure he takes the time to answer your questions, which he will do if asked. Make sure you are well-informed on your own too, so you know what to expect if you don't get all the answers from his office.

Had my first meeting with Dr. Orloff on 2/19/03. Before I even met him, I met several of his WLS patients in the waiting room, and they all raved about how wonderful he was, and how he would do whatever was necessary to help people have safe and successful surgeries. That impressed me.

There was a fair wait for my appointment. Dr. Orloff has his WLS clinic appointments on Mon and Wed and UCSD Hillcrest, and the calendar is evidently always very full. But I was willing to wait after hearing all the good things his patients had to say about him. And I wasn't disappointed when I did meet him.

Dr. Orloff is an older man, has been doing WLS for 20 years, and has obviously kept up with the latest advances. He does only open RNY surgeries, is very up-front about the risks and also about the complications he has seen in his patients. I felt very comfortable with him at the first meeting. Second meeting - to schedule the surgery - is set for 4/2/03.


4/4/03 - I'm not officially pre-op, not just waiting. Dr. Orloff's office handles all the paperwork and insurance stuff. I just have to wait to hear back from PacifiCare. Hopefully in 6-8 weeks I'll have a surgery date!

This time I didn't wait very long at all for my appointment. In and out in 45 minutes. As before, a resident came in first to review history, current status, and also do a general "once-over" (heart, lungs, poking and prodding, the usual). Then Dr. Orloff came in, we reviewed the risks again, he made sure I understood everything, and answered my questions about the hospital stay, recovery time and aftercare (nutritionist and home nurse). I really felt that he was happy to see me again and that I was proceeding with the surgery.

9/17/03 - Well, my surgery is in 2 days. It took a while for Dr. O's office to get back to me with a surgery date, but I understand that there were some scheduling problems at the hospital. When Leslie called with the date, she told me the insurance approval had been received (no problems), and set me up for pre-op stuff. I had to have a psych eval, then spend an afternoon at the hospital for blood work, EKG, chest x-ray, meeting with anesthesiologist, nurse, etc. Everything went very smoothly. Saw Dr. O on the day of the pre-op stuff, and we are good to go! I was happy to be able to tell my mom how happy I was with Dr. Orloff, and how confident I felt with him.

I met with Dr. Marshall Orloff on April 21st 2003, and I had nothing but, positive things to say about him. The staff was very nice, they have always returned my phone calls pretty quickly. He's very firm on making sure you know what your getting yourself into, and that you know what this surgery is for and how to take care of yourself. He seemed disapointed that I hadn't brought my husband, he said that I need a good support system and that my husband should come to my next apt. so that he can answer any questions my husband may have as well. The only negative thing I have to say is the medical student that was checking me was kind of rude, but once Dr. orloff came in the student was very friendly. Dr. Orloff, seems to have it all bedside manner, competence in his field, and respect. So far things are great, I will write more about him and his office after May 12th 2003.