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Originally Posted by mattintosh  I too did my homework. I found out about Dr. Verboonen and his Obesity Goodbye clinic. He uses his whole family. I found several patients that were pissed off by the way they were treated after banding!!
I know of Dr. Corvala also. He is a good surgeon but thats as far as his care goes. I actually over heard him while riding in the same elevator with him at the Bandsters bash. He said " These damn patients. All I want to do is surgery I am sick of their (patients) constant questions"!
One of the first to do band placement in Northern Mexico works in a very low end hospital in TJ.
I like the surgeons that are Fellows of The American College of Surgeons. (FACS). This is a designation of membership in a organization that supercedes local requirements and standards. The one that I know of is Dr. Mascareno in TJ. I went and met him on a surprise visit and found him very professional and not interested in becoming the next Mega Surgeon. JMHO  |
I don't know, I have to say that anyone that goes to the effort of putting a doc's web site address in their sig is suspect to me. However, I trust very few people here as I agree with you, more and more patient coordinators are posting, posing as patients, not telling anyone they work for doctors, it's getting wayyy out of hand here.
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| Dr.s of GETBANDEDNOW.COM 380-175
Success is part the surgeon
part your education
part your dr.s support team if any.. |
I don't even KNOW my doctor's website address, I have to look it up if someone asks for it. I am not sure why anyone would advertise a web address while claiming to go to TJ weekly to meet with these doctors if they did not work for the doctors. So, who DO you work for? Just the one in your sig link? Or more?
We've caught coordinators before with more IDs than they have a change of underwear. We we catch them they just abandon their IDs and come up with a whole bunch more.
F.A.C.S.: For the most part I agree with you but that does not promise a skilled surgeon. One of the worst surgeons in Mexico has FACS behind his name (for now). And JFTR, Mascareno is not the only FACS surgeon in TJ. If you are going to push a doc on your sig link at least be honest about other surgeons in TJ that are also FACS.
And speaking of your surgeons....
Basic Package P/U and Return to Airport
Yes 3 nights in 4-Star Hotel
Yes Pre-Op Tests
Yes Post-Op Surgery Meds
Yes Free Fills for Life
Yes Total Complete Fee$8,500.00
Notice free fills for life, right? Check this out, same web site different page:
The adjustments are free to our patients. The Clinic charges us 200.00 U.S. dollars for the use of the Flouroscopy equipment.
Non Patients fee is 275.00 US Dollars only. Reciepts will be available.
Now, if they were working out of an actual hospital I can see the HOSPITAL charging for fluoro, but they are using their OWN equipment, THEY are charging $200 and claiming the act of poking you with a needle is free.
Also, they claim throughout the site that they use a hospital, it's not a hospital. It's a clinic. They claim it's a private hospital. Hooey, it's a privately owned clinic.
What can I expect from the facilities at Hospital Lityen
The Dr.s of Getbandednow provide first class facilities and top of the line medical equipment and this is what you can expect from Hospital Lityen. This hospital has all private rooms, each equipped with a private bathroom, a pull out bed for a family member or companion, and cable TV with remote control. English-speaking doctors are on call 24 hours a day.
Here they claim it is a clinic:
You are taken to the clinic and before starting the protocol, you sign the surgery authorization form, by this time all questions are cleared and you have authorized the procedure. For better understanding, the surgical consent forms are in plain English and easy to understand. You are encouraged to read the form thoroughly prior to signing.
They claim to have done 2000 bands. So where are their patients? Anyone with 2000 bands has plenty of patients posting, not these guys.
Check this out:
We will pick you up and return you to the San Diego airport for an 80.00 fee.
$80 for a ride from the airport to the clinic? Most docs do this for free. So a fill is $280. That's more expensive than many places in the US. I can get a fill from my NP here in Phoenix for $100. Yeah, she's crappy and I wouldn't go there but she's still $100.00.
One of the biggest issues I see is that they do not advertise Inamed. They offer the Midband, J&J, and BioE. Never heard of BioE, I'll have to look it up. I'm not even sure what Mid Band is. Most US patients have Inamed because that was the only US FDA band approved in the US until last fall when J&J became FDA approved. If you get a mid band or Bio E, how would you get fills? Most in the US won't touch a non FDA approved band, and I don't blame them.
They also do not appear to do the tricky stuff. They don't do sleeves, bypass, revision, none of it. Only easy banding. Why? Are they not capable of tricky stuff? That's a big question in my mind.
The big stuff... clinic and not hospital but they claim it is a hospital. No use of Inamed, that is a concern, are they only using cheap bands? They don't do anything tricky, just easy stuff. That makes me question skill. I question if their stats are inflated since they hardly have anyone posting! It makes no sense.
I haven't even talked to them yet. This is just what I got from the website. I actually called them and left a message twice trying to help someone research them. When they found out why I was calling and who I am (BubbleButt the one pushing research on the boards) they declined to return my call. Funny thing is, until that point I had heard positive things about them. The person that was asking me for info was totally gung-ho for Gutierrez, he sounded great. He appeared very honest on the phone to her, he was kind, professional, the works.
Of course, then he told her that while they have done some supposed 2000 bands they have few people posting because they don't want the advertising. Hello? Who posts here to advertise other than patient coordinators? Why WOULDN'T a doctor want his patients posting and exchanging info on life as a banded person? They don't have many people posting because they don't have many patients.
I would love to verify the claim of 2000 bands but I can't because when they found out I wanted to do some research on them, they declined to return my phone calls. I've been trying to find out how many of each brand band they have placed so I can call the band manufacturers and verify they have actually purchased this many bands but... they don't want to talk to me.
BTW, are you Mario from their office?
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