Dr. Schwartz - or - Dr. Drew ??? (Abbott Northwest)

I am trying to choose a surgeon and narrowed it down to Dr. Schwartz or Dr. Drew or perhaps Dr. Chute.  I understand Drs. Drew and Chute spit off from Dr. Schwartz and opened a new practice in Chaska. 

I am looking for comments or suggestions on now to make the final pick.  Is there any advantage to going to the new clinic in Chaska (Chute and Drew)  versus the MPLS center (Schwartz)?  I am choosing Abbott Northwest for the hospital, so will I even be going to any of the doctors' private practice clinics? 

All of these doctors appear highly qualified and superior surgeons.  Thinking of just flipping a coin.  Any suggestions?

Any tidbits of information will be helpful.  Thank you in advance!

I LOVED Dr. Chute!  Don't cross him off your list.  He is great!

He is conservative in his approach, and I probably flouted some of his rules, but I would much rather have a conservative surgeon than one who takes risks.

I spent one night in the hospital, and the day after I got home I felt good enough to go out and get a pedicure!  I really felt like he cared about me, both at surgery time and in follow ups.  He is a more reserved person, but he certainly answered any questions I asked him very thoroughly.  I always get my questions answered by the NUT and others at the office, so that would apply to Dr. Drew as well. 

I can't say that I was overwhelmingly thrilled with Abbott, but I was only there one night.  It's the hospital--nobody is comfortable at a hospital, LOL.  The care was good, I just hate hospitals in general.

Anyway, I healed up perfectly, and you almost can't see any of my incisions anymore.  I had 8 incisions, because he took my gall bladder out, too, but I don't even remember where some of them were.  And I've lost 160 lbs, which is the most important part!!

Good luck with your decision.

       They are all excellent. Dr Schwartz had the surgery so he totally understands what you are going through. Dr Drew was my surgeon. He is the one that did the operation on Dr Schwartz. Dr Drew spent 40 minutes with me explaining everything I needed to become successful. He is every bit a gentle and understanding soul. Their combined success rate is better than Ivory soap (99 44/100th pure.) Both of the nurses I visit with there have had the surgery. They have an excellent team.

Paul

 I had Dr Schwartz and think very highly of him, he had the surgery himself.  He is very personable and willing to answer ?'s and no rushing.  I felt no pain after surgery, felt like no difficulty drinking or eating.  I highly recommend Dr Schwartz

I had Dr Schwartz and it was a great experience with him and his clinic. I'm 13 months post op and have no issues so far.  I have a friend who's part of the new program in Chaska and go to some meetings there too. They are a great group in Chaska also.

Thank you all. I heard some of you meet for coffee on Sat ams. Where/when are you meeting Sat 2/18/12?

 Hi! I am 3.5 years post op from RYN with Dr Drew! He was my savior in human clothes and he is patient and wants you to be successful! I love him and would recommend him to anyone! I work at Abbott and you'll be in good hands! Good luck in your decision but just know all of the drs on your list are very good and would be in good hands with any of those surgeons. Good Luck and best wishes!! 

I am reading this for the first time now but it would depend on which type of surgery you were going to have. Mpls. Bariatrics now has surgeons that are doing the duodenal switch (DS) wich is the most effective weight loss surgery out there. That is the only clinic other that the U of M that offers that option. They have just started doing it so they don't have a lot of experience but, the DS is far superior to the RNY. I had it done8.5 years ago when I weighed 285 and I now weigh 110 with no regain. DS'ers malabsorb 80% of all the fat they eat so it is very difficult to regain weight.