Dr Ortiz Kaiser Follow up

Hi there,

I am planning on scheduling surgery with Dr Ortiz next week. Hoping I get a surgery date soon after. How long did it take you to get a surgery date once you paid your down payment ? Also has anyone had Kaiser ? If so how were they with aftercare? Any tips would be helpful. I will be traveling alone too. Thanks in Advance

Christine

Hi Christine, and good luck with your surgery.

I am a Kaiser patient who is waiting for my self pay VSG.  I recently made an appointment to let my PCP know what was planned, and she never mentioned that there would be a problem with Kaiser not treating me post op.  I am also having my Kaiser cardiologist doing my cardiac clearance for the procedure, and he did not mention any problems.

I did not specifically ask if there would be problems because I did not want to hear any bad news.  I figured that if I tell them my plans and they do not caution me, they will have a harder time denying me care if something goes wrong.

When I told my PCP that I was going to self pay for the VSG, she said that since I was so set on doing it, she would put in a refferal for me to do it at Kaiser.  That was a huge slap in the face, because I have been asking for that for years, and always told no, because I do not look fat enough even though I meet their criteria.  I told her that I was going to stick with the self pay because it is worth it to me to pay for it and avoid the stress of dealing with them.  She said that she understood. 

Kaiser is not your friend