Dr. Ruary O'Connell or Dr. Wagih Mando

Good morning! I'm a longtime lurker trying to pursue WLS, and I would have liked to introduce myself more formally, but I wanted to put this question to the group as quickly as possible. Does anyone know where Drs. Mando and O'Connell (and others in the ReNew program) are practicing nowadays? I have Blue Cross Basic for federal employees, and it appears my only choices are Drs. Richardson and Kennedy at Ochsner, where I can't even get in for a first appointment until mid-July, and Drs. O'Connell and Mando at Methodist. Other ReNew surgeons may be on my preferred list, but I would have to find out first. I have a time constraint because my federal job and the insurance policy that goes with it will be gone in August. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be forever indebted! Thanks a million!

I don't have the answer to your question, but wanted to give a shout for Dr. Richardson at Ochsner. He did my bypass last month and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I was in hospital two days and back to work in one week. I have had zero complications and Ochsner has a good support system. Take care and good luck, Lisa

Thanks, Lisa! I had a look at your profile, by the way, and it's quite a coincidence that you were also going to have surgery with Dr. Moore. I started out planning to have mine with Dr. Martin at Touro, then found out my insurance at the time (State Group through Definity) decided to exclude WLS. Actually, what happened was I initially went to the Weight Management Center at St. Charles intending to go on a supervised diet. They had me do labs and a sleep study just as St. Charles was getting ready to close in late December, 2004. After the practice moved to Touro, I called about every other week to find out when they would be ready to see patients again. I finally saw Dr. Raum, the internist, some time in April, 2005. At that time, he diagnosed me with severe sleep apnea, hepatic lipidosis, edema, and high cholesterol, and strongly recommended surgery. I was so shocked at the time that it didn't dawn on me that I had severe sleep apnea and nobody cared to do anything about it for over 3 months! Anyway, I had my psych evaluation in late April and was waiting for the results, and by the end of May, I was told they would be sending my paperwork to my insurance company for approval. I left the country for a few weeks to visit family, making sure to call Touro every week to check on the status of everything. When I returned in July, I called again and was then told that as of July, Definity and state employee insurance plans now excluded WLS. Now, I was always impressed by how nice and pleasant everyone in that practice was, but I was also very peeved that because of their slowness, I missed out on having surgery. In August, I got a year-long federal job and now have BCBS. Unfortunately, after Katrina, WLS was not much of a priority, and my work schedule was far too hectic. Now I want to have surgery before I lose insurance coverage. I got started with Dr. Moore and later found out that she's a preferred provider for general surgery, but not WLS, so there I lost 2 precious weeks! Then, I went to Ochsner's seminar, only to find out that the wait list is prohibitively long. This whole situation is driving me absolutely insane, and I'm starting to wonder if it's just my destiny to remain obese. Thanks again for your encouragement. It's been comforting reading about other people's ordeals before finally having surgery. Hopefully, I'll be in that category too.

I don't know where they are practing now,, You could try calling several hospitals , they can normally tell you,, but if one option is Dr. Richardson, geesh I would wait for him, I hear he's awesome,, I think kat worked for him also,, email her,

Here is the address for Dr. O'Connell #30, 3600 Prytania street New Orleans La 70115 Tel # 504 897-0700. Office hours Mon, Tue Thurs 8.30-4pm. I've heard that Dr. Mando doesn't do the WLS anymore or he left the state or something. Dr. O'Connell did my RNY it was open due to a large midline scar with lots of scar tissue, he does mostly lap RNY. He also did my husband's, open due to his size, he's lost about 130-140 lbs. If you have any questions feel free to email me. Anne 254/168/1??

When you called Ochsner for an appointment, did you tell them that you had a time limit on your ins. coverage? Maybe call back and tell them to call if they have a cancellation. I have heard that Dr. Richardson is good. Good luck! Lynn J., lap RNY 9/29/04

Wow! Thank you so much for those replies! I was able to get an appointment for the 31st with Dr. Kennedy, but I can't see the dietitian until 7/3. Hopefully, she'll be able to squeeze in a quick consult. I hate to sound like a know-it-all, but I went through all the preparations, including the pre-op diet, last year. I tried to speak with one of the coordinators today, but she was out, so I'll wait until tomorrow to see if she can put me on standby. At this point, I'll take any surgeon.

There was an ad for him in today's paper. He is on Prytania St now.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice! As you ladies suggested, I spoke with a nurse at Ochsner. Amazingly, she got me an appointment to see Dr. Kennedy tomorrow! WOO-HOO!!! I'm very excited to be seeing her. She hasn't performed quite as many surgeries as Dr. Richardson, but she is the medical director of the center, and that's got to count for something.