Dr. Pohl's seminars

I would ask Dr. Pohl at one of his seminars what happened to my daughter Cheryle after her surgery and see if he will answer your questions truthfully. She almost died from a perforation , the band was put on too tight, she started vomiting blood the same day and the nurse dismissed it as "Normal" all the while her stomach was perforated and then she started with fever and infections and was so sick. You should ask him why he waited until the last minute to remove it. She went into her second surgery, to remove it, with a 105 temp. Dr. Pohl said she was a "lucky girl" . It was show two days before that through a barium swallow that it was "too tight" the report says. He should have removed it immediatly. Also her bathroom hadn't been cleaned but once in nine days. It was full of blood, vomit, and feces from her being so sick and she had to vomit in a sink at one point because the bathroom was so filthy. Also ask about the other patients that passed away and he had no explainantion as to she died. "He hadn't seen the autopsy report yet" says he. Well maybe he has seen it , its been a few years. Ask questions about the lapband surgery and get an answer. It's your right!!!

Mary, I'm sorry to hear about your daughter and her surgery. Dr. Pohl was my surgeon and I was fortunate to get through surgery without complications. It sounds like your daughter had issues with the staff at the hospital too. Did anyone mention the condition of the bathroom before the 9 days? Thats awful for her to have to go through all of that. I know that I had an issue with a nurse that was very rude to me. I reported her immediately and when I left the hospital, I filled out a questionaire and mentioned the nursing staff again. During the seminar, I had asked questions about deaths and he explained them to all of us in great detail. He even mentioned that he was in the middle of a lawsuit for a wrongful death. The wrongful death had nothing to do with dr. pohl though. It had to do with the anasthesiologist and the patient was is poor condition before surgery. Again, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter, but he has performed hundreds of successful surgeries too. I hope your family is going to look into this more. Nobody should just stand by and let the medical field be careless like this without taking responsibility for their mistakes. Best wishes Megan B

Megan, Thank you for your reply. I also forgot to mention that my daughter was fed some food the day of her surgery, she was still under anesthesia and didn't realize she shouldn't be having food and ate some of it, I think it was yogurt, etc. The nurses said it was OK for her to have it. Duh, I beleive she was suppose to only have ice chips. Anyway she developed sepsis, a raging infection, she had three different infecions. One may have been caused from the cleansing solution that the use on one's body before they cut you open and I do know they were or still are using the same solution which was a new one that many employees didn't (nurses) didn't seem to think was as effective as the old one. At one point my other daughter, and family had to get Cheryle out of bed to change her sheets as they were soaked from the fever. After he removed the band the state came into the hospital and gave her massive doses of antibiotics by an IV. We (the family) have never gotten a straight answer from Dr. Pohl as to what happened or from the hospital. It is in litigation! Cheryle also had to have massive doses of Heparin because she was so sick she couldn't get out of bed and would have had a blood clot. I could go on and on . She dosen't ever want to go near Dr. Pohl ever again . She has terrible nightmares regarding this horrific experience and I am sure she will never get over what happened to her. I think also that RWGH should have let her know how she got these infections. At first the doc told her the band rejected in her body. Then a perforation, then he said infection, then he said he really didn't know!!! Doctor take the time and find out. I almost lost my daughter to neglect!

mary mary mary still at it i see scaring the people thinking of getting the operation what is it you work for curves or something ??? you have been posting on and off for quite a while now anytime you would like to meet in person and one of dr pohls seminars and ask him in person in front of all potential patients just let me know i will meet you there for some reason i dont think you will

I would love to go to one of his seminars but I do not live in RI any longer. At some point if I am there I will attend a meeting and ask him in front of the people there what happened? He stll can't give us an answer nor the hospital. I am not trying to scare people, I just want to inform them as to what can happen with LAP band surgery . Maybe the president of the hospital should be there also and take some of the blame for what happened also. Experminting with new anti-bacterial cleansing before surgery on the patient could have caused infections also, and with a perforation , DEADLY, Why was the state epidemiology in on this also??? Ask some of his other patients on here, I don't want to mention names , who also know what happened to Cheryle. This should have never happened and hopefully it will never again. My daughter is still have post-traumatic syndrome and fears being near Dr. Pohl.

Dear Mary....... I posted to this website last year and you responded with this same information. I took the information to be correct, to the best of your knowledge. I do believe that the attacks on Dr. Pohl are just that. We all know of the risks involved...however, if there was any kind of "neglect", as you say...then it should be investigated. At this time, I find no reason to question Dr. Pohl's experience or integrity in regards to my upcoming lap band surgery. I think of myself as a well educated, intelligent person, and like these other people who have done research on this topic, find your postings to be nothing more than flagrant attacks upon Dr. Pohl. We understand that you dislike him, yet I've never seen a posting from your daughter....Only YOU! As a parent, I understand your dedication to your child and to the "atrocities" you feel have been bestowed upon her. However Mary....one must be careful in what one says. Yes....you did frighten me last year.....but I've since gone to the seminars, spoken with others who have HAD the surgery and investigated Dr. Pohl myself. I understand what it is that I am undertaking. He has never once told me that there arn't risks associated with this surgery....as a matter of fact....he makes it VERY CLEAR that there ARE risks involved. We all know what we're facing here. Dr. Pohl, as a physician and a person, is very respectable and sincere....that is my opinion. I will be seeing him again this afternoon and am rounding the corner on my own surgery to be performed by him. Please take the time to care for yourself and for your daughter and let this go. Obviously, you are not going to sway those of us who actually do our homework. And it seems to me that you spend far too much time here, when you should be spending this time with your family, whom you love so much. Let go of this stress and let us make our own choices. Be well and we hope Cheryl is doing fine. Shelli

Hi Everyone, This is Cheryle, Mary's daughter. What my mother has said in her postings is true. We know there are risks with every surgery and things do happen, but happened. dont second guess and give us four different answers, all we wanted was a straight answer. Cheryle