Dr. Kermie Robinson's Patients and Emory University Bariatric Clinic

Good Morning, I was wondering if there were any of Dr. Robinson's patients out there who are transferring to Emory for Gastric By-Pass Surgery? They are trying to work with Rose so those of us who had surgery cancelled can go ahead and be transferred to Emory. I am really hoping that this will work out since my feet, hands and now my legs are getting worse from the neuropathy. Has anyone actually heard or received an apology from Dr. Robinson regarding the cancellation of our surgeries? I was looking over my file today that I got from Dr. Robinsons office and I first applied for this surgery a year ago next month and I do not want to have to wait another year to get this surgery. Write and let me know what you are doing if you were cancelled and how you are handling the stress of what happened with Dr. Robinson. Take care and May God Bless You. Sincerely, Becky Stanford

Hey Becky! Good news from my corner. After my surgery was canceled last week, I have met with Dr. Case and my surgery is tentatively scheduled for the end of the month! Of the hospitals he uses, I chose Emory due to it being closest to my home. I was disappointed when my surgery was canceled because I was as ready as I would ever be. I spoke with Elaine when she informed me of the cancelation and she said she would call me within a few days when she knew more and to let me know what to do. She never did so I'm not very happy about that. I feel like she didn't follow through and has yet to. I took it upon myself to get a copy of my records and go elsewhere. Am I glad I did!! I have heard a few different stories about Dr. Robinson and I believe the one about the hospital suspending him. His office not being upfront with me doesn't give me reason to look favorably upon them. If the office is going to work with us to get us on to Emory, I wish they'd told me. Dr. Case is requiring a few things of me before he'll do my surgery. But I'm going to do what he asks of me as I do trust him and am relying on his desire to do what's best for me. As far as an apology from Dr. Robinson, I wouldn't count on it. Do let me know if you need any advice on what to do. I'll be glad to help you out.

I would consider calling his office and demand an explanation .Iam the sister of the patient he lost on Feb 28th,and the only explanation I received from him when I talked to him was that he was gonna take some time off and "think about it"!I would consider myself lucky, because something is not right.I hope you all do well with your surgeries,and you get the results you expect. Good luck to all.

Good Morning Tammie, I would first like to send my condolences to you and your family in the death of your sister. I am so mad at Dr. Robinson for his explanation he gave you if you want to call that an explanation. Your family deserves alot more then that and for him to be so cold about it. I was shocked at his answer because he came across as a caring person who had a wonderful bedside manor. Did your sister have her surgery on the Wed. before she passed away? I know that Dr. Robinson had told me that I was a high risk due to me having Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol, Depression, Neuropathy, etc. I even have a problem with my heart where my left valve regurgetates but the cardiologist cleared me for surgery. I weigh over 300 pounds and have been over weight all my life and the doctors have told me if I do not loose weight soon that I will end up paralyzed from neuropathy and I will not live to see my 60th birthday . I am 48 years old and I have 5 grandchildren who I want to be able to play with and watch grow up. So this surgery will literally save my life even though I know the odds are 1 in 200 will die from the procedure. But, I sure do not need a incomptent doctor to do the surgery and push those odds up. I just wish that your sister could have found out about Dr. Robinson before her surgery. I even asked him at our first meeting how many of his patients had died due to the surgery since he started doing Gastric By-Pass and he said 2, but they were very sick and would have died anyway. Now the other question I asked was if he believed in prayer and God :prayer: in which he answered yes. That day, I think he may have lied to me if what Karel is saying is true about him loosing 3 patients last year. I was wondering if I could ask you the name of your sister so when I pray for her and your family I could use her name in prayer. If you do not want to give it to me, I will understand. Just know that I am praying for you and your family and that you are on my mind every day. I do not have a sister, but I do have a brother who is very sick and is in need of a liver transplant. In fact I had put down in writing that if I should have died during surgery, then I wanted to donate my liver to him since we were a match. I would not know what my life would be without my baby brother (he is 47 years old, not really a baby lol) and I would miss our times together. My brother loves to irritate the stew out of me and we usually end up arguing about the stupidest things but we always end up laughing and making up. If you would like to e-mail me , my e-mail address is: [email protected] Please take care of yourself and May God Bless You Always Sincerely, Becky Stanford Jackson, GA

I was one of Dr. Robinson's patients and was fortunate that everything went well for me. I am concerned too about what is going on with Dr. Robinson and also our support group. However, here are two things I want to remind everyone about. 1st Litigation concerns. I am quite sure that Dr. Robinson's malpractice attourneys have directed him not to speak to anyone about the loss of a patient. It doesn't matter, in today's society, whether there was malpractice or not, so many people sue doctors that the attourneys won't let them speak about the issues until all chance of litigation is over. So if you are expecting an apology, explanation or anything I am sure you are not going to get it, not because Dr. Robinson doesn't care (because he cares greatly) but because he can not (by insurance and hospital rules). 2d I know for a fact that Dr. Robinson made it clear in no uncertain terms the dangers of this surgery. You talk to him, you talk to the nurse, you go to a class (and take a test about the dangers and side effects which you must score 100 on or he won't do the surgery), you talk to a psychiatrist, you talk to a nutritionist. If you don't know the dangers at that point you aren't listening. I was in great shape except for the weight, yet he still stressed the danger. I can only imagine the hurt the family is going through and I know the disappointment that comes through being disapproved and having surgery rescheduled ect. But that doesn't change the fact that Dr. Robinson is a caring person, that may well care too much. I hope some of you can at least try to understand his position. Jeff

Dr Robinson DID talk to me. He said the loss of my sister was the cause of him to stop doing the surgeries. I can understand why you have good feelings about him because you did well. Thank God your family is not going through what we are at the moment. We had a sister that lay in that room for 2 day's screaming in pain(which according to Dr. Robinson when I spoke with him)was a sign of something being wrong.So, why wasn't something done?I do not feel sorry for him at all, I do however feel sorry for the families of the other patient's he has lost, which according to Dr. Robinson,was 3, but my sister makes 4. I do not feel the choice was his.I feel if he were able, he would still be doing the surgeries.She did know the dangers of the surgery, however you always think it will not happen to you.You place your life in someones hands and you trust them.She had no other health problems other than her weight, she died from the aftermath of the surgery.If he was such a caring person why did he wait so long to see what was wrong? , and did he tell you all in your classes about the other patients he had lost, and why?We all know that ANY surgery is dangerous, but in her case she did well with the surgery, it was the aftercare she suffered from. Yeah we have lots of questions, and they will be answered.

Tammie, I'm so sorry that you and your family are going thru this. I want you to know that I will keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers. As a patient of Dr.R, I too want answers for every ones sake. I need to know what is going to happen to the support group. Is it gone forever? Now is the time that we need it the most. Some of us want to try and keep it going. I hope that in time maybe you could come and share with us. Maybe it will help you in some way. Maybe it will help someone else. Take care, Sidney

Tammie, My post was not intended to cause you any additional pain, nor was it even intended for you. Further, I was not defending Dr. Robinson. I was aiming my comments at the preop patients who are expecting statements or reasons from the Dr's office. Remember that is the purpose of this web page to provide info and support to bariatric patients. Clearly you expect and deserve a full accounting for what happened to your sister. However, unrelated patients can't expect anything more than the basic info about his statistics. As to your question of did he tell us about the other patients he lost. Not personally, but his nurse and the hospital nutritionist did at the teaching seminar. I know that they told the truth on at least one of the people that died because he was the husband of a close friend of mine. I hope you find all the answers you need in this. Again, I am very sorry for your loss. jeff

Thank You Jeff, I am sorry to hear that someone close to you died also.I don't know how long it has been, but I'm sure the family is also experiencing tremendous pain as we are. There is a lot of cir****tances involving my sisters death that I can't talk about at the moment. A lot of needed answers also.I just don't feel Dr. Robinson has been truthful, and lives were placed in his hands.I truly hope that the support group continues for all of your sake, I know how important this was to my sister, and I know it is equally important to all of you. Good Luck with your continued success! Tammie

Hi Jeff, I wanted to write to you regarding your comment you wrote concerning the preop patients of Dr. Robinson. I was one of those preop patients who was 10 hours away from surgery and had even gone through the prep. Now I had been trying to get this surgery for over a year and that includes his office misplacing my file over the holidays and I had to call them in January when I had not heard from them. Now, I had been in to see him for a surgery date a week before Thanksgiving but he wanted me to get my ER records from Henry Medical from when I was in there for what I thought was a heart attack. I got those into him the day before Thanksgiving and never heard from them again. Then when I call in Jan. he decides I need to see a cardiologist which happens in Feb. (the soonest he can see me). After going through several more test I am cleared and finally get a surgery date of March 2, 2004. Now that he has cancelled and I have been to the seminar for Dr. Duncan, I have found out that it may be June or July before I can get my surgery again. The sad part is my husbands insurance may change in June and the new one may not pay. Well guess what? I may not be able to get the surgery after all or if the new insurance does, I have to start all over again. So, yea I think Dr. Robinson owes those of us who were literally laying on the operating tables an apology if he is not going to give us a statement regarding why he did what he did. Oh, when I met with him for the first time I asked him 2 questions. The first was What was his mortality rate? which he answered he had 2 to die total and that they were so sick, that they would have died within 2 or 3 months anyway. The second one was did he believe in prayer and would he pray for me before surgery? But now that I hear that he lost 3 patients last year, I feel that he was not truethful. Tonight at Dr. Duncans seminar, not only did I ask him what his mortality rate is, but where did he get his training, how long was his gastric by-pass surgery training? and how long-how many of these surgeries has he performed? I will be going to the seminar at Emory on the 26th and I will ask the same questions and I will probally call the medical review board or whoever. I guess it will take me along time before I will trust another doctor again and after going through what I did with Dr. Robinson I will know everything about the surgeon inside and out before he will cut me open. Sorry, I did not mean to get on my soap box but I have been through heck to try and get this and we are trying to get it before my neuropathy spreads to my legs causing me to be paralyzed and put in a wheelchair. I am so glad you were able to get your surgery and that everything went well for you. Now for those of us who did not get our surgery, we have to wait again and possibly even have to start over. Take care and may God Bless You. Sincerely, Becky Stanford Jackson, GA