Re: Lap DS or Lap RNY or open DS or...

[Guest guest]

I agree and even more fundamental than customer service is that all

people deserve to be treated kindly when they are seeking help. When we call the

surgeons office we are asking for help of some sort. To be treated unkindly is

unneccessary especially after surgery.

Lisbeth

Dr. Macura

June 25, 2001

" E. Nahodil " wrote: I am Paying these people's

salaries, I expect nothing less than excellent customer service, good

surgeon OR not.

Nahodil

Re: Lap DS or Lap RNY or open DS or...

Hi all:

> The fact that Dr. K is in network for me is

> a huge selling point, but being able to call

> his office and get information without getting

> snapped at is even better.

I know I'm going to get my head taken off for saying this, but what

the heck, that's never stopped me in the past, so why should it now?

Here goes...

I think that it is unwise, when choosing a surgeon, to place a lot of

emphasis on how much you like the office staff. After all, the

person who answers the phone is most likely NOT the person who is

going to cut you open and rearrange your insides.

It amazes me how often I see people talking about switching SURGEONS

because they don't feel properly loved by the office staff at either

Dr. Rabkin's office or Dr. Anthone's office. Yes, both of those

offices can be a bit chaotic, slow to answer calls, etc., but let's

consider why, shall we?

First off, Dr. Rabkin & Dr. Anthone are located in major metropolitan

areas, where the cost of living is extremely high and the quality of

employee one can hire for clerk-type wages is pretty low. Dr.

Kesheshian, on the other hand, practices in Delano, which is in an

agricultural region. Wages & the cost of living in Delano are quite

low by the standards of San Francisco or Los Angeles, and jobs in

Delano are probably not real easy to come by, unless you are into

picking table grapes.

Second, Drs. Rabkin and Anthone are both world-class surgeons -- as

such, they are very much in demand, therefore their offices are quite

busy, and their staffs tend to be a bit frazzled. I don't mean to

offend the many (very vocal) persons on this list who adore Dr. K,

who is apparently an absolute prince among men, but...

When compared to Dr. Rabkin or Dr. Anthone, in terms of training

and experience Dr. K just is ... well, he's like a baseball player

who has just been called up from the minors -- great fastball hitter,

but can he hit a major league curve, and can he stay in the box when

the 105 mile-per-hour fastballs are coming in high and tight? He may

be the next Mark McGuire, but then again he may not. Time will

tell...

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Dr. K. He has an

excellent record thus far, and his patients appear to do quite well.

He seems to be very cautious and conservative when it comes to

matters of patient safety -- this is something that I HIGHLY approve

of in a surgeon.

And, as many have pointed out to me in the past, (pointed, as in with

a HARPOON), some patients simply prefer the dynamism of youth to the

steadiness of the more " seasoned " surgeon. Now that I'm older and

wiser (than I was three or four months ago) I can accept that as a

valid point of view.

So, if you've looked at all the information on the different docs and

decide that Dr. K is your guy, then that's fine. But don't make such

an important decision based on how nice the office clerks are!

Remember: Larry Young said his surgeon's office staff was just great!

Okay, start lighting up your Molotov coctails...

Tom

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

I agree and even more fundamental than customer service is that all

people deserve to be treated kindly when they are seeking help. When we call the

surgeons office we are asking for help of some sort. To be treated unkindly is

unneccessary especially after surgery.

Lisbeth

Dr. Macura

June 25, 2001

" E. Nahodil " wrote: I am Paying these people's

salaries, I expect nothing less than excellent customer service, good

surgeon OR not.

Nahodil

Re: Lap DS or Lap RNY or open DS or...

Hi all:

> The fact that Dr. K is in network for me is

> a huge selling point, but being able to call

> his office and get information without getting

> snapped at is even better.

I know I'm going to get my head taken off for saying this, but what

the heck, that's never stopped me in the past, so why should it now?

Here goes...

I think that it is unwise, when choosing a surgeon, to place a lot of

emphasis on how much you like the office staff. After all, the

person who answers the phone is most likely NOT the person who is

going to cut you open and rearrange your insides.

It amazes me how often I see people talking about switching SURGEONS

because they don't feel properly loved by the office staff at either

Dr. Rabkin's office or Dr. Anthone's office. Yes, both of those

offices can be a bit chaotic, slow to answer calls, etc., but let's

consider why, shall we?

First off, Dr. Rabkin & Dr. Anthone are located in major metropolitan

areas, where the cost of living is extremely high and the quality of

employee one can hire for clerk-type wages is pretty low. Dr.

Kesheshian, on the other hand, practices in Delano, which is in an

agricultural region. Wages & the cost of living in Delano are quite

low by the standards of San Francisco or Los Angeles, and jobs in

Delano are probably not real easy to come by, unless you are into

picking table grapes.

Second, Drs. Rabkin and Anthone are both world-class surgeons -- as

such, they are very much in demand, therefore their offices are quite

busy, and their staffs tend to be a bit frazzled. I don't mean to

offend the many (very vocal) persons on this list who adore Dr. K,

who is apparently an absolute prince among men, but...

When compared to Dr. Rabkin or Dr. Anthone, in terms of training

and experience Dr. K just is ... well, he's like a baseball player

who has just been called up from the minors -- great fastball hitter,

but can he hit a major league curve, and can he stay in the box when

the 105 mile-per-hour fastballs are coming in high and tight? He may

be the next Mark McGuire, but then again he may not. Time will

tell...

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Dr. K. He has an

excellent record thus far, and his patients appear to do quite well.

He seems to be very cautious and conservative when it comes to

matters of patient safety -- this is something that I HIGHLY approve

of in a surgeon.

And, as many have pointed out to me in the past, (pointed, as in with

a HARPOON), some patients simply prefer the dynamism of youth to the

steadiness of the more " seasoned " surgeon. Now that I'm older and

wiser (than I was three or four months ago) I can accept that as a

valid point of view.

So, if you've looked at all the information on the different docs and

decide that Dr. K is your guy, then that's fine. But don't make such

an important decision based on how nice the office clerks are!

Remember: Larry Young said his surgeon's office staff was just great!

Okay, start lighting up your Molotov coctails...

Tom

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Hi Nick!

I wanted to thank you for your reply regarding Dr. Keshishian. I

chose him for the same reasons you did. I believe that a doctor's

staff and their concern for the patient is just as important as the

doctor's experience and competency. I investigated several doctors

and two different surgeries and did not make my decision blindly.

And quite frankly, BEDSIDE MANNER DAMN WELL COUNTS WITH ME! I don't

care how competent the doctor is, they work for ME. They (and their

staff) had better treat me with respect or they will not get my

business.

Thanks again for your reply! I completely agree with you!

Tracey in San Diego

> Hi Tom -

>

> You can keep your head.

>

> > I think that it is unwise, when choosing a surgeon, to place a

lot

> of

> > emphasis on how much you like the office staff

>

> Tom, I think that you miss the point. The " feel-good factor " is

not

> the issue. The issues, though are several. Primarily, when you

> call, you need to be able to accomplish the purpose for which you

> have called. When I called Rabkin's office, the staff was always

> nice. I just wasn't able to get anywhere. Second, and of greater

> concern, is what happens if you call post op with a problem. When

a

> patient earlier this summer " . . . complained of severe stomach

> pain, he was told to take antacid. " He was later hospitalized and

> died. There was significant discussion of this sad story a few

weeks

> ago. The story, granted, may be skewed. However, it points out

the

> risk, one that I am not willing to take.

>

> No, Tom, the person who answers the phone will not be performing

the

> surgery. What they will do, however, is determine how my problem

is

> handled. If the quote above is accurate, I am concerned about the

> person on the phone. I certainly don't want to die because they

are

> trying to protect the busy doctor from yet another patient with a

> symptom that the staff-member thinks that they can handle with a

> little Pepto-Bismol.

>

> Your comments about Dr. Keshishian being the next Mark McGuire are

> very cute but they fail to take into account the fact that Dr. K is

> far from a rookie. Even in baseball, players aren't considered to

be

> rookies after their first year. To suggest that Dr. Keshishian is

> not a seasoned surgeon is intellectually dishonest.

>

> You also did not mention that Dr. Keshishian had performed, as of

> earlier this year, over a hundred surgeries. You also did not take

> into account the surgeries he performed in his residency. He is

not

> someone who merely watched that elusive DS training video, bought a

> knife and went to work.

>

> You said that " time will tell. " How much time and how many

surgeries

> will it take in order to receive your stamp of approval? I think

> that, counting his residency, Dr. K has performed over 300 DS

> surgeries.

>

> As to labor costs in Delano, your comment about table grape pickers

> is again cute. However, you don't mention that Delano is a half-

hour

> from Bakersfield which is a large city with a plethora of jobs

beyond

> grape-picking. Job opportunities are within a much easier freeway

> commute than is available to the workers in the urban areas you

> mentioned.

>

> Tom, I started out looking at Dr. Anthone. Because of his love

> affair with the panni, I moved on. You may have loved it but it is

> not my cup of tea. I moved on to Dr. Rabkin. Then I fell victim

to

> the confusion in his office and began to look at Dr. Keshishian. I

> liked what I saw, both in him as a competent surgeon and in

> the " nice " and competent factor in his office staff. I am not an

> ignorant person, Tom. I am well able to pick a surgeon for reasons

> that go far beyond his being " nice. "

>

> Best-

>

> Nick in Sage

[Guest guest]

Hi Tracey:

> And quite frankly, BEDSIDE MANNER DAMN WELL COUNTS WITH ME!

But what does bedside manner have to do with the office staff?

> I don't care how competent the doctor is, they work for ME.

Well, how's this for service?

Since 11/10/2000, the date of my first surgery, (panniculectomy), I

have felt a " need for immediate contact " with Dr. Anthone a total of

five times. Each of those times I dialed 1-800-USC-CARE and asked

that he be paged.

On three of those occasions, Dr. Anthone was in surgery. On those

occasions, I received return calls, within 10 minutes, from: Dr.

Crookes, Dr. Baker, and Dr. Paik. They were all able to resolve my

problem within minutes. On another occasion, Dr. Anthone called me

back, and he too resolved my problem quickly and with his usual care

and kindness.

On the fifth ocassion, Dr. Anthone instructed me to go to my local

emergency room, and then to have them call him. When the idiot

emergency room physician finally called Dr. Anthone at 1:30 a.m. on

Sunday night/Monday morning, Dr. Anthone called him back within

minutes.

On yet another occasion, I asked Dr. Anthone about the possibility of

doing a revision for my sister, who had a JI Bypass in 1979, and who

has regained most of the weight she lost these past few years.

Instead of simply giving me a message to pass along, Dr. Anthone

asked for her phone number, so he could call her himself. He then

did call her, in Massachusetts, twice, (he got the answering machine

the first time, and called her back the next day when she had not yet

returned his call), and spoke to her for just over an HOUR.

When I talked to my sister later about Dr. Anthone's call, she

said

to me, " He's sooo nice! Are you sure he's really a

surgeon? "

Tom