Dr. Ozment/Dr. Gibbs

I am considering RNY and was planning on using Dr. Ozment only to find he is retiring. Was refered to Dr. Gibbs. I know nothing about him. Can anyone give me feedback from their experience. Also, I'm probably going to be self pay as my insurance has an exclusion clause for the surgery. Can anyone give me a ball park figure as to the total costs? Thanks.

Sharon, I had my surgery my Dr. Ozment last March. Sorry to hear he is retiring, although I knew that was coming. I have heard good things of Dr. Gibbs. I was a self-pay also and my bill for everything was around $14,700. That included Dr. Ozment, the hospital and the anestheoligst. Good Luck - if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Corgimom

I have considered going to Dr. Gibbs myself. If you have to self pay what kind of payment options does he give you?

i have heard good things about gibbs wellborne and lutrell lutrell is 16,000 good luck amy

Too bad he's retiring, but no surprises. He did WLS on a friend of mine 27 years ago and he wasn't a spring chicken then. Denise in FS

That gave me a chuckle!

I had surgery with Dr. Gibbs last October and have nothing but praise for his work. I don't know about the amount of the surgery sorry. Dr. Gibbs does have a ptient forum on the main board It may help you seeing all his other patients. good Luck, jennifer 357/268/175ish

I used Dr Gibbs-- everyone will usually say their surgeon is the best. Dr Gibbs gave me the tool to help me take control back over my life. My surgery was Dec 10, 2003-- beginning weight at 280-- total loss of 143 lbs-- current weight 137. I have pretty much maintained this weight for the past 1 to 1.5 years. First I went to the siminar at Baptist Hosp. then scheduled a consultation with Gibbs. I met with him again the day before surgery-- I had the Roux-n-y done laproscopically with no complications. A year later I did have to have my gall bladder taken out--As long as you follow the rules you will do fine. He stresses that he is getting you started-- it's your responsibility to do the rest. Good Luck-- Tanya

I agree with everything that's been said about Dr. Gibbs. I had open Roux-en-Y May 6 2005, and I've lost 110 lbs. so far. I started at 299. He was great, Baptist Medical Center was great (as far as I could tell--I was unconscious most of the time ), and his office staff is great. His seminar was very informative. My son and I each went with a list of questions, and I think he answered all of them before we had a chance to ask. Since my surgery was open, my gallbladder was removed at the same time. I had had previous surgeries and a history of cancer, so open was definitely my best choice. I felt like I was slowing dying before my surgery, and my friends agree with that. I was 56, but I felt like I was moving like my mother did at 80 (she had spinal, hip issues and asthma, so she was slow). I told a friend that, and she said I was worse. Now I have my life back. I can get around, get out and about, all kinds of things I couldn't do a year ago. I'm diabetic and am off all meds for that (I was taking 3), and I had high blood pressure (2 meds). I'm also off that. I agree that Dr. Gibss very definitely stresses that it's up to you to make this work. If you have the surgery and go back to old eating habits, you'll be right back where you were. I tried to follow the diet religiously, especially at first, and I've had great success. My local Nurse Practitioner calls me the "Incredible Shrinking Woman." Just today my grandchildren were looking at pictures. My 8YO granddaughter said she couldn't remember what I looked like before my surgery, so my son found a pic of me (I didn't let folks take too many of those!) to show her. Her mouth dropped, and all she said was "Wow!" I highly recommend Dr. Gibbs for giving me a life back!

I forgot to tell you in my email that Your cash price will be about the same of $16,000 with whomever you chose and if you go LapBand or RNY. The plus with LapBand is same day surgery. You pay for the cost of the band versus a 3 day hospital stay with RNY. My surgeon's fees were $4500, $1865 for anesthisia and $10,000 for the hospital. Baptist is about $300-$500 cheaper on anesthesia, but St. Vincent was really great. Also, they have a special bariatric unit. I left with my dignity. ha But that is a big deal when you are overweight.