WakeMed in Raleigh no longer allowing Gastric Bypass to be performed

Hi all. Well, I had a surgery date of Nov. 10 but WakeMed issued a moratorium on Nov. 6 banning all future gastric bypass surgeries. My Dr. notified me on Nov. 7. I hope to have a new date soon at another hospital, hopefully Rexx. In the meantime, stay clear of WakeMed. Apparently the decision to ban these surgeries was made by the hospital CEO William Atkinson. Its possible the hospital board may reverse the decision. Mr. Atkinson claims to have no faith in the process and that this is not the direction he wants to take "his" hospital in. Funny, I thought hospitals were there to help people. Can figure out how this is helping me. Wakemed is also a not for profit institution that is not supposed to turn away patients. So much for putting the patient first. I am anxious to see how all of this plays out. In the meantime, everyone should contact WakeMed and voice their dissatisfaction with this decision. A decision like this from a hospital has far reaching repercussions and to know it was made without any input from the doctors or patients it affects is very disheartening. Hopefully I will have a new date and surgery location soon. I appreciate everyone's support.

How sad. I just had my surgery on Monday at WakeMed. The staff was excellent. There was no mention that they were no longer doing them there. My doctor has a fortune of his own money tied up in the equipment there for this surgery. I'll have to get his opinion on my visit on Thursday. I hope that you don't have to resort to Rex. My angel had hers done at Rex on Oct. 6 and received the worst possible care you could imagine. She was there for six days and never received a food tray at all. You are supposed to be put on liquids but she didn't get anything.

I hate to hear that for you I hope that your Dr. can get you set up at another hospital reallly soon! I will keep you in my prayers! Good luck, and God Bless. Sincerely, Bobbie Tate

WakeMed in Raleigh is very closely affiliated with Western Wake Medical Center in Cary. All of Western Wake's medical dictation is processed through WakeMed in Raleigh. I wonder if this means that they BOTH won't be doing this surgery? Mine is at Rex on Tuesday. Despite what some others have said, I've talked to many people who have had wonderful experiences at Rex.

I had mine at Rex and it was terrible. You might not get a room and the nurses where terrible. i called and complained to the Nutritionist about not getting any foods. Also, i would not take my Dog there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only 2 nurses new what to do and how to take care of you . I had complications and they did not know how to handle that!!! Good luck for those going to Rex!!!!!!!!!!! (FYI an nurse friend of mine was in the same time and she works at work and she had bad service too and complained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope they learned from my complaints and others!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Dalton, See if you can locate an e-mail address for the hospital administrator! A little note on the national message board would do wonders, especially if you can get that address! Thousands of e-mail telling this person how WLS saved their lives might get their attention! Pat

Dr. Brader has surgical privliges at Rex so hopefully they can arrange something there. Rex is a much nicer facility anyway (I work there.). I am so sorry that your surgery has been delayed. I too am a patient of Dr. B and was planning an early January date. Hopefully this is just a slight bump in the road. I plan to talk to Christy on Monday morning at get the full scoop. I have waited to darn long and jumped through far too many hoops for this to get screwed up now!!!

Can you send me a copy of this form? Seems like it could be useful after surgery. Thanks

I think that one of the biggest differences you will see between Dr. Brader using Rex and using WakeMed is that at WakeMed he puts all his patients in a step-down unit, where there is like a ratio of two or three patients to each nurse. That allows you a lot of care. I'm not sure that Rex will allow him to do that. As I stated before, you can talk with Ann Greer-Faison, who had surgery at Rex with Dr. Malik on Oct. 6, and she can tell you some of the things that went on. I know she sent an extensive letter to the hospital about it. They were giving her blood thinners and pints of blood at the same time, until she told them to stop the blood thinners. Lot of other things that went on, but none I think that would have made her not have the sugery if it was between going to Rex and having it and not having it at all. Also she had her husband with her most of the time and that helped a lot. All I can speak from is her experience at Rex, and my experience at WakeMed. But I know that Dr. Malik was using WakeMed and Rex, so he may have to do some shifting around too for the ones he had scheduled at WakeMed. I just hope they get it all fixed so that people don't have to jump through hoops again. It's bad enough the first time.

Well the "weight" has finally paid off, Dr. Brader has a new hospital to perform the gastric bypass procedure. I will be having my procedure done at Franklin County Medical Center in Louisburg, NC. Its a bit of a drive from where I live but I am grateful to finally have a new date. To all the others who were put in limbo with Wakemeds decision, hang in there, the "weight" is finally over.