Support for Dr. Pohl

It was great to see so many at the Weigh to Win Support Group meeting last night. The support that was given to Dr. Pohl last night was just amazing and overwhelming. After Dr. Pohl left there was a discussion of how we could help him in this time of need since he has helped so many of us regain our lives back. It was decided to get the word out to all his patients to ask them to send letters to Dr. Paul Liu, Chief of Surgery, Roger Williams Hospital, 825 Chalkstone Avenue, Providence, RI 02908 regarding your surgery and relationship with Dr. Pohl. We strongly feel that Dr. Pohl is an excellent surgeon and that he has changed the lives of so many people that it is time for us to give something back to him during this crisis. Also our thoughts and prayers go out to the young man's family that just passed away this week. To all preops of Dr. Pohl's please keep the faith and the best thing you can do is to attend the support group meeting on the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Kay Auditorium, Roger Williams Hospital. Please help us to support Dr. Pohl. If you want further information please e-mail me. Thanks Nancy

This is so awful for him. I am scheduled to meet with him in May. I hope everything works out and that they get through everything. I just can't believe it. I have been through so many obsticles and now this. I can't imagine what he is going through. Shannon

I am writing to send my support to Dr. Pohl. Mr. Messas death surely was very sad however everyone going into surgery knows that death is a major risk. I am not sure that broadcasting a death from WLS is really fair to anyone. People die daily from all kinds of surgery. Various things cause these deaths but the surgeries are not dissected under the microscope. In truth more people die from complications of obesity than will ever die from Weight Loss Surgery. I am sure that Dr. Pohl and everyone in that operating room feel terrible about a patient dying on the table. I will never waiver in my support of Dr. Pohl or in WLS for two huge reasons. First, Dr. Pohl makes very sure that noone goes into WLS blindfolded. What I mean by this is he informs prospective candidates of every possible thing that can happen in surgery and post-operatively-including death. Secondly, WLS saved my life and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat even in light of this recent death. Hang in there Dr. Pohl you will hopefully be allowed to save more lives soon with WLS. Sharon M.

Hi all, I would like to say something about Dr. Pohl. (This is Erica's husband, not Erica.) My father went to see Dr. Pohl several months ago to have the surgery done after another doctor declined to perform the procedure on him due to his extreme morbid obesity and other health problems. Dr. Pohl consented to do the operation on my dad and did some pre-op testing, but not as extensive as my own surgeon did prior to my operation. Last august my dad was excited to be going in for surgery, he was going to get his life back as he'd been very overweight for years. Several hours later, after making a 20" incision in my father's chest he came out and said he couldn't do it. He couldn't finish the surgery because of his anatomy. Now, my question is shouldn't he have done the necessary tests to determine his anatomy BEFORE he cut him open? My dad has been confined to his house pretty much for 4 months because he has to be there when the visiting nurses come to change his bandages twice a day. His incision isn't healing like it should, and there is talk of having to cut him again to make it heal differently. In my personal experience Dr. Pohl is not as thorough as the other physicians in RI. I'm not saying he's a bad person or a bad surgeon, but that I am aware of two situations in which he's operated with poor results. How many more people have experienced similar cir****tances with Dr. Pohl? BTW, Mr. Messa was the CNA who was helping to take care of my father. I'd just had the same surgery with Dr. Harrington the week before, and when he learned of it he was ecstatic saying he was going in for it soon. He was a really nice guy, and I know that his family and friends miss him. My 2 cents, Chris Mikaelian

Dr. Pohl hadn't even touched Mr. Messa when he went into cardiac arrest from the anesthesia. I have been thru 2 months of testing as a patient of Dr. Pohl. One of the pre-tests includes a endoscopy. One of the things that I know going into the surgery is that you don't know what is going to happen when he "gets in there". But I fully understand that going into it. Some problems can't be foreseen, but that was fully explained to me by Dr. Pohl beforehand. I'm sorry to hear that your dad is having such a hard time. Lisa BTW, my husband had an appointment with both Dr. Pohl and Dr. Harrington to see which he preferred......he chose Dr. Pohl.

I am aware that Dr. Pohl was 30 minutes into the surgery on Mr. Messa. It was never said what the autopsy concluded??? Does anyone know?? I know for a fact that he has had four other patients (WLS) die besides Mr. Messa. I am doing a lot of research on this matter. My daughter's almost died from WLS by Dr. Pohl and it is being investigated as to what happened.