Experience with Dr. Schlesinger why does he only do open RNY?

Why does Dr. S only do open RNY and what was your experience with him? I had a consult with him on December 14th and am waiting for insurance approval.

That would have been an excellent question to have asked him. I am not sure if it is a Barix policy to do only open or not. Dr. S does have quite a bit of experience in doing lap from what I remember from my research before I had him do my surgery. Dr. S pretty much follows whatever is set up by Barix in how he performs surgery, does follow up, etc. He is very responsive to you post-op and will personally call you if you have any problems. So, my guess here is that with the lap vs open question is that he is following a Barix directive. In my case, I was looking for a surgeon who had an excellent reputation and who would do the surgery open. I just felt that it had the potential of going better if they could see everything easier. I have no idea if that is true or not. I do have an incisional hernia that I will be having repaired this next Wednesday when I have my gallbladder removed. The hernia is the result of a fall that I had when I was 10 days post-op. My feeling about the Barix program is that it is a good program, but not a perfect program. I don't think a perfect program exists. At least thus far, I have not heard of one. I do highly recommend making use of some of the Yahoo groups to really become familiar with all the nuances of the surgery that you will encounter as a post-op. I particularly like the OSSG-Protein and the Graduates-OSSG groups. Feel free to email me directly if you would like more information. You may also find a lot of links on my web site at acdlady.com/WLS_1 just add the www. part to the beginning. I have my online journal and pictures of my stay at Barix. Sandra

Like Sandra, I can't answer that. My biggest concern was the expertise of the surgeon. I was prepared for the longer recovery. I will never regret going to Dr. S. He is a fantastic surgeon and I felt nothing but calm knowing he was going to be doing my surgery. For the rest of the staff...top notch. I truly had an "angel" for a night nurse. God love her. I'd recommend Dr. S and Barix to anyone. Kim R/az