Good day all,
I am new to this site and trying to research some options. I decided a while ago that I really wanted to do the lap band for assistance with my weight loss goals. Since I had to self pay, I researched many options and decided to pursue surgery with a surgeon in Jacksonville, Florida. I chose this surgeon as my sister-in-law had her surgery (going from a size 22 to a size 4) with him and I felt her results were a pretty good endorsement of his skills. While I was pondering whether to do it for sure, my SIL called me to tell me the doctor was running a "special" providing the surgery for $15k. Now again, since I had to scrape up the $$ to get this done, I signed up immediately and got the surgery.
Now comes the interesting part. Since I opted to have the surgery done in FL instead of my home state in New England, the local bariatric providers refused to provide me maintenance on my band! I searched the most local who flat out refused service, then contacted a facility in Portsmouth, NH that said the doctors met once per month to review cases and that I would have to write them a letter explaining in detail why I chose to have the surgery in FL instead of locally! Really? I finally did find a provider that was 45 minutes away who agreed to do the maintenance. Boy was that a mistake. First, they would only give me fills at the rate of 1cc for the first 4 visists, then would only give me .25 ccs each visit after that. I finally got to 7.5 ccs and they told me they would not do any more fills for me, even though the effectiveness of the band was getting me into the "yellow zone" after about a month. The best part? They charged me between $450 and $550 per visit! Does that seem reasonable and customary? It is cheaper for me to fly to Florida and pay my surgeon the $50 charge to take care of the maintenance than it is to drive 45 minutes north for a fill!
On top of that, I recently got some food stuck that lead to vomiting and pretty bad acid reflux. Instead of taking out 1 or 2 ccs (which I now find they should have done then put me on a liquid diet unti the swelling went down) they took out all of the fluid, then made me have an upper GI to check for slippage, then an upper endoscopy (all paid out of pocket). I am very frustrated at this point. By the time I could co-ordinate with my original surgeon, it has been two months and I am still not back up to the original fill amount. I am getting very depressed with the way this group, and the area surgery centers in general have treated a patient. Plainly, this group is more interested in the money than the care.
Can anyone provide me with any feedback? I am very curious to hear from others who may have chosen the same route and whether anyone else has been put through the proverbial ringer because they had to self pay and were forced into making the best financial decision coupled with quality of care.
Thanks!
I am new to this site and trying to research some options. I decided a while ago that I really wanted to do the lap band for assistance with my weight loss goals. Since I had to self pay, I researched many options and decided to pursue surgery with a surgeon in Jacksonville, Florida. I chose this surgeon as my sister-in-law had her surgery (going from a size 22 to a size 4) with him and I felt her results were a pretty good endorsement of his skills. While I was pondering whether to do it for sure, my SIL called me to tell me the doctor was running a "special" providing the surgery for $15k. Now again, since I had to scrape up the $$ to get this done, I signed up immediately and got the surgery.
Now comes the interesting part. Since I opted to have the surgery done in FL instead of my home state in New England, the local bariatric providers refused to provide me maintenance on my band! I searched the most local who flat out refused service, then contacted a facility in Portsmouth, NH that said the doctors met once per month to review cases and that I would have to write them a letter explaining in detail why I chose to have the surgery in FL instead of locally! Really? I finally did find a provider that was 45 minutes away who agreed to do the maintenance. Boy was that a mistake. First, they would only give me fills at the rate of 1cc for the first 4 visists, then would only give me .25 ccs each visit after that. I finally got to 7.5 ccs and they told me they would not do any more fills for me, even though the effectiveness of the band was getting me into the "yellow zone" after about a month. The best part? They charged me between $450 and $550 per visit! Does that seem reasonable and customary? It is cheaper for me to fly to Florida and pay my surgeon the $50 charge to take care of the maintenance than it is to drive 45 minutes north for a fill!
On top of that, I recently got some food stuck that lead to vomiting and pretty bad acid reflux. Instead of taking out 1 or 2 ccs (which I now find they should have done then put me on a liquid diet unti the swelling went down) they took out all of the fluid, then made me have an upper GI to check for slippage, then an upper endoscopy (all paid out of pocket). I am very frustrated at this point. By the time I could co-ordinate with my original surgeon, it has been two months and I am still not back up to the original fill amount. I am getting very depressed with the way this group, and the area surgery centers in general have treated a patient. Plainly, this group is more interested in the money than the care. Can anyone provide me with any feedback? I am very curious to hear from others who may have chosen the same route and whether anyone else has been put through the proverbial ringer because they had to self pay and were forced into making the best financial decision coupled with quality of care.
Thanks!
