DS with Rita Anderson or Dr Teel

When I was checking out surgeons I found that some of the folks I talked to who had Dr Anderson and went in for Lap ended up with Open.   This actually bothered me a bit... until I went to one of her seminars.
She stated right up front that if she had any doubt in her mind that the stiching wasn't perfect she'd put a 3 in*****ision in (large enough to get her hand in there) and hand sew the seams.  She appears genuinely concerned for her patients and I know that if I had an outer body experience and was able to watch the procedure myself.. I think I'd be a little anal too and suggest "Why not hand sew just to make sure"
From what I've read having the open incision is far much better than having to deal with a leak.
You have to trust your surgeon 100% to make the best decision for you.  I'd rather have a surgeon who takes her time and takes the extra steps to assure a 100% successful surgery then a surgeon who touts a high lap rate with random complications.

Just my 2 cents :-)

Dr. Rita does LapRNY and LapBand, but always does the DS open.  Any doc will tell you, though, that they will TRY to do a procedure lap, but they reserve the right to open you up if they find anything strange.

My RNY with Dr Rita was open (a full 8-in*****ision with the post-op swelling), but I knew it would be from my very first appointment with her.  Lots of her RNY patients are lap (Desperately Seeking Skinny (Tracy) on here is one of them), though.  As Tony said, though, if she has ANY question about her ability to be sure about not having any leaks or about any other problem (perviosu surgeries and scar tissue, etc.), she will do open... which is why she has such an incredibly low complication rate from the surgery itself.

Lora

I ADORE Dr.Teel.  I had a lap RNY and he has taken wonderful care of me and has always been available if I needed anything which wasn't often.  He also has a great staff.
Dawn