Anniston General Surgery Center Organization

I am using Doc. Black from Anniston. I found him through this web-site. My first impression was he was very assure of himself. I liked that. I feel like he will do all he can for me. He has a partner Dr. Hegstrom. So that is good too. I have never heard anything bad about him. All praises.

Alabama Rehabilitation are setting me up with a consultation with Dr. Clifford Black in Anniston, Alabama. My consultation is on May 30th, 2002 at 3:45. I am excited and nervous. I will update this information after the visit!
5/30/02 Met with Dr. Black's assistant today (Dr. Hegstrom). Really caring and nice. His nurse was wonderful also. They went over the entire procedure with me. the good, the bad and the ugly. LOL! Also, gave me an appointment for June 17th, 2002 to talk with Dr. Black, then will set my surgery date.
8/14/02 Met Dr. Black on the 17th of June. He was great. Had a great bedside manner. Had surgery on August 7th, everything went pretty much okay. I had to have a hernia repair surgery, a few days after. Both Hegstrom and Black did a fantastic job, AND CAME BY MY ROOM EVERYDAY, SOMETIMES TWICE A DAY TO CHECK ON INCISIONS AND MY COMFORT!!!
8/19/02 Went for checkup and had lost 39 lbs. Dr. Black was happy for me, said I could begin walking 2 blocks a day for 5 days a week. Oh Boy.....I can do this, I know I can!!!!

I knew Dr. Black from about 10 years ago when he had done my gallbladder surgery at the local Army hospital. I had originally scheduled my surgery with another surgeon in town, to be done at a hospital where I would have had less out-of-pocket expense. Then I heard the wonderful reports of how Dr. Black's patients were doing. I did some investigating and found out his patients weren't have complications, a lot of which I attribute to him hand-sewing the anastamosis. All of the research I had done said those patients whose surgeon hand-sewed had fewer leaks and fewer complications. I also found out Dr. Black and his partner, Dr. Hegstrom, did all of these procedures together. I had heard another surgeon whom I greatly respected, but that didn't do these procedures, say that he wouldn't recommend one of his patients have the procedure unless there were 2 surgeons doing the case. I called Dr. Black's office and was so impressed with the professionalism of him and his entire staff from the moment I called. I had my initial visit with him on 6/3/02 and he explained everything in great detail. He seemed to really care if I had any questions and concerns. Since I had already been approved once to have the surgery with someone else, he felt it would definitely be approved and "penciled me in" for 7/11/02, the first opening he had. I heard from my insurance company on 6/14/02 that I was approved. I am now 1 month post-op and couldn't feel better about Dr. Black and his entire staff. They have answered every question I have called with and been completely supportive of my recovery. I have recommended several friends and coworkers to Dr. Black and they have all felt the same. It is very rare to find a physician with the level of skill & expertise he has and have such a wonderful bedside manner, too!

I met with Dr. Hegstrom, who is working with Dr. Black. I could get my 1st consult with him before I could with Dr. Black. I chose this way b/c I could go ahead and get the ball rolling with insurance, and have my 2nd consult with Dr. Black. The 1st consult was just basic, go over the diet sheet you had to fill out, talk about the surgery and discuss your willingness to follow the program, and make sure this is really what you want to do. It took about 25 minutes, and that was fine with me because I had already done so much research I didn't have a whole lot of question at that time. It is my understanding that when I go for my second consult, I will meet with Dr. Black, b/c he will be doing the surgery, and we will get into the specifics of how and how much will be bypassed and all. I have been very pleased so far. Marty, the receptionist and insurance lady, has been great!! She submitted all the insurance. Called to make sure they had recieved it, and then called in about a week to see if they had made a determination. And they had!!! She then called me and told me the good news. I had BEEN APPROVED!!!! The whole process went like this. I called at the end of June and was scheduled for my first visit on July 18 (Thursday). My insurance company recieved all the paperwork on July 23 (Tuesday) and she called on Aug. 1 (Thursday) and they told her I was APPROVED!!! I have my second consult on Aug. 21, and I will get my surgery date then. This has really moved quickly and I'm so excited!!! I will post back after I have met Dr. Black.

Very impressive; committed and very profesional, staff is empathic and reassurring.The waiting list to have surgery after approval is about 2-3months.

Dr.Black was very nice took time to talk with me, and made me feel very comfortable. His office staff was very friendly. Dr. Black puts a high regard on safety and makes sure a patients is a good canidate for the surgery.He is very highly skilled and trained in this feild of surgery and I feel very comfortable with him doing my surgery. Dr. Black is very thorough with his explanation of what will have to be done after surgery,and outlines the risks of surgery very well.Dr.Black in my opinion is the best Dr. in this area to do this type of surgery.His bedside manner and his competence as a surgeon are both excellant.

My first visit with Dr. Black was very pleasant. He spent a long time with me and was very nice. His office staff was excellent. I came out feeling very good about everything. After about 2 weeks I finally got approved by Tricare Prime. They called me up and gave me a date of December 5th to come in to discuss the surgery. I am looking forward to going and hope I run into some other of his patients so I can talk to them about how their surgery went.