Duke University

Hey everyone. I go on Firday to the Seminor at Duke. I have been reading alot on Eric DeMaria. Hes one of the doctors that does the sugerys at Duke University. Does anyone know if hes a great doctor or not?? Does anyone know anything about the Duke Hospital?? Thanks so much...

Nichole,

BarbaraC had a bad experience with Dr. DeMaria.  Please read her blog.  I would not recommend him at all!  Please look into going to UNC Chapel Hill with Dr. Farrell if you can.  Diane

Nichole, I was just on the Related Ins. Help Forum @ OH and there is a article  Dr. DeMaria wrote: At the bottom of page, Obesity Surgery Outcome Weighed on Google-WebMD. Interesting.

I cant find the article your talking about. Can you please send me the link or tell me what it was about. Please. Thank you so much!

Hi Nicole,

I started at Duke to have wls but switched right at the end of all my preop.

i could name you list of things that happend to me there and none were favorable as far as I was concerned. Keep in mind Duke requires you to stay at the same weight you are at when you start your preop testing. Also I had to have a heart echo done there and while the tech who was doing it started to tell me about his website and for me to try his diet and not to have wls! If I were you Nicole, I would go to UNC like Diane has said. I also have heard many people left the wls program at Duke and went elsewhere. I have never talked to much on the boards about what happend to me at Duke but by your post I am telling you a few things that happend to me. I also found Duke required some things to be met before surgery that are not issues with most insurance company's. Nicole I dont want to scare you but if I were you I would run to UNC and never look back at Duke.                                                            Annie

 

I went through Duke and had Dr. Pryor....I had a great experience and felt the staff were well educated and very professional....I don't think their requirements are any different then anybody else's....I would say go to the seminar and make your own decision....I've met dr. Demaria and think he's a very nice man and his patients seemed to like him alot....you are ultimately the person who needs to decide.

Just curious why you're driving all the way to Durham rather than going to Carolinas Weight Loss Surgery right in Concord?  Everyone has their own needs, but in case you didn't know that Dr. Bauman and Dr. Pirrello were in your backyard, I figured I'd mention it.  Dr. Pirrello is my surgeon and I have been really happy with him.

I have to tell you that while I have some issues about communication at Duke and I did have a complication that is rare, I do believe that I was/am in competent hands. Dr. DeMaria is a leader in the field and has been actively performing bariatric surgeries for more than 15 years.

Do not get me wrong, I was mad as a wet hen when Dr. DeMaria didn't see me at all post op. I didn't hear from him or see him until I had my 3wk post op visit. At that time, Dr. DeMaria met with me for over 30 mins and answered all of my questions and addressed my concerns. My mother asked him if she would be a candidate and he talked with her about it. I would feel comfortable having him perform surgery on my mother.

I believe that what you might learn from my experience is that Dr. DeMaria often has the Dr's undergoing their fellowship with him do the post-op follow-up. I wish I had known that ahead of time. I still think it would have been reasonable and appropriate for Dr. DeMaria to talk with me directly, especially since there was a complication.

I think that UNC Chapel Hill has a fine program. If my insurance had allowed, I might have selected them. I think it is a smaller, more intimate program. However, it is not a Medicare Certified Centre of Excellence (COE) and my insurance requires that any bariatric procedure be performed at a COE, therefore, UNC CH was not even an option.

As Diane suggested, please do read my blog. I also urge you to check with the program(s) you are considering to find out what their complication rates are ... You will get that information from Duke when you go to the seminar.

I hope that this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

All the best,

Barb

 

I started out at Duke and was not happy with the 'insurance girl'. I went to their seminar and had all the test they require done and just couldn't stand her. As far as the docs and surgical staff... all seemed competent and well versed in WLS. I was a little creeped out by Dr. Demaria. To quote my mom, "I think he's a boob man".  Funny thing was I wasn't the one who spoke up about it. My mom and another lady were talking while I was in line waiting to ask a question. The other lady said, 'He sure did stare at her' and pointed to me. That just tickled the snot out of me! ( I don't even have big boobs. I kept thinking I had something on my shirt. Even my 8 year old son asked if something was funny about me!) He must have been wanting some chicken breast that night!   He's really very nice and knows his stuff. Other than snotty office staff, they all seem to be able to handle anything. Good luck!

I am also going to their seminar, but on the 13th. I have to use them do to my medicare status. I wanted to go to baptist in WS and had started there and then medicare changed the center of excellence junk. It is going to be another year at least until they can do the medicare patients again. My doctors tell me that I can not wait a year. Let me know how it goes tonight and what you think. Good luck.