Dr.Shumacher + DS?

I've heard from VSG'ers and the reviews have been great. But now, I would love to hear from those that have been Switched by Dr.S.

Thanks in advance!

WARNING
I do not believe this Doctor is a DS doctor!  His OH profile shows that he has done no DS's and he is not listed as trusted DS surgeon on DSfacts.com

I called "Nancy" his practice manager who confirmed that he has "done some BPD's when medically necessary" but that they primarily do the VSG, Lap-Band, and RNY.  When pressed on how many Duodenal Switch's  Dr. Schumacher has done Nancy  told me he has done some that are "like it" and "would like to start doing more."  It sounded like the only thing close to the DS's he has done were hybrid revision and those were not actual DS's.

But, there in Kettering you have an amazing DS practice   It's no wonder Dr. S wants to represent that he is a DS doc - competition.  May I suggest you make an appointment with:

Rita M. Anderson, MD, PhD, FACS

New Life Weight Loss Surgery Center
5355 Southern Blvd., Suite 2250
Kettering, OH 45429
Phone: 937-534-0339 or 1-888-532-THIN toll free
Email: [email protected]

I believe Justin is correct.  The last info I heard was that only Dr Anderson (Kettering) and Dr Maguire (MIami Valley) were doing DS in the Dayton area.  I had RNY, but FWIW, I think Dr. Anderson is great and I have never heard anything bad about Dr. Maguire (other than that he is quite shy!)... and I cannot say the same about other area surgeons.  I would stick with one of those two (who are both quite experienced) if you are looking for a DS, especially if it is a revision!

Lora

he's not a DS doctor and when I went to his seminar the 2 doctors did down play the DS

There are a few folks on here who've had the VSG and most people I've talked to have later stated that they should have done the RNY or the DS.

 

How frustrating. :( Does anyone know if Dr. Anderson takes medicare?

Thanks for all the replies. I want to make sure that I'm making a well thought out/throughly researched decision.

Not to hijack the thread, but I see you got your approval, Tony!!!!! YAY!!!!  (Can I stop swinging the chicken now?!?)  Congratulations.  Let us know when you get your surgery date!

Lora

Dr. Rita Anderson works with Dr. Shumacher and she's the surgeon who does the DS.  Last I heard as of January, Dr. Shumacher wasn't doing it....yet anyway.  It would be good business for her to train him, though.  I know that Dr. Anderson and Kettering Medical Center both are classified as Centers of Excellence, so your chances with Medicare are looking good.

Heard back from Dr.S. and here are the replies:

Q: How many ds surgeries have you done? I tried looking it up on ObesityHelp, your websites, and dsfacts but I couldn't find anything out. 

A:I have been performing bariatric surgery since 2001 (before it was popular).  We currently perform about 300 cases per year and have done somewhere between 1500  to 2000 to date, 99% with the laparoscope.

Q:Is that 300 cases/yr of duodenal switch or does that your entire practice?

A:300 per year of bypass, band, sleeve, switch, revisions combined. Haven’t calculated the ratios.

That's interesting that his office says they have not "calculated" how many of each surgery they do.  Poppy****!  (Trying to keep it clean here...)  They know roughly what percentage of their surgical cases are which type of surgery!

Lora