Surgeon Chosen - Date Set - Now Comes the Waiting...
You know, I just had a conversation with my daughter, who is a patent paralegal for a computer innards manufacturer. She SAID she talked to her boss, who is a VP level patent attorney. She SAID he told her that the Apple iPhone required licenses to 250,000 patents in order to be manufactured.
I called bull**** (OK, I told her to tell him that I called "shenanigans," but same diff). US Patent No. 8,000,000 (that's 8 million patents in over 200 years) was issued in the last couple of weeks. Statistically, only 1 in 100 patents is ever commercialized. That means only 80,000 patents have ever been commercialized - in 200 years! So, I feel pretty comfortable calling bull**** on this.
Even if you throw in a multiple of 50 (a ridiculously too high number - people rarely file in more than EP, JP, AU, CA, KR, TW, IN, ID, MY and a few other manufacturing centers) for foreign equivalents of each invention having a US patent, that would be 5000 US patents (times 50 for their foreign equivalents), which is STILL a ridiculous number to be necessary to manufacture an iPhone (remember, this means 5000 licensed patents out of 80,000 that were EVER commercialized, or 16% of all patents that have ever been commercialized, in 200+ years).
And even if you postulate that what he was talking about included about 50% filed patent applications, most of which will never mature into an issued patent, and their potential foreign equivalents, you get to a number which is REALLY about 2500 issued patents needed to manufacture an iPhone, which still sounds ridiculous (8% of all patents ever commercialized??), but is at least remotely plausible.
With that said, I will do the following analysis on what I believe are the nonsense numbers that your surgeon seems to be claiming, and demonstrate why I don't have to do any further investigation to dismiss them out of hand:
The two Drs. Rabkin, over the course of about 14 years of doing the DS, have probably not performed more than 2500 surgeries. Probably more like 2300. But let's use 2500 as a nice round number. Of those, probably no more than 20% (and more likely fewer than 10%) were revisions. That gives you at most 500 revisions, and 2000 virgin surgeries. The DS has been their PRIMARY bariatric procedure for most of the last 10 years at least (the first few years, the DS was not done that often because of insurance issues).
Between the two surgeons, who are the PREMIERE DS surgeons in the field, 10 years, 2000 virgin surgeries, 500 revisions. That's 200 virgin, 50 revisions per year, or about 250 surgeries TOTAL yearly.
And yet your surgeon claims to have done 250+ lapband to DS revisions and 300+ virgin DSs. In addition to the bazillions of other surgeries he has personally done.
And in all the years we have been here, nobody - NOT EVEN SUE, WHO USED HIM FOR FOLLOW-UP WITH HER CRAPBAND, has EVER heard of him as a DS surgeon AT ALL, much less as a REVISION surgeon.
And looking at those numbers, let's give him credit for doing bariatric surgeries for ALL of the last 14 years at the same high pace - that would be 1000 surgeries a year, or - given that there are 2000 working hours in the average year, a surgery EVERY 2 HOURS, NON-STOP, 8 HOURS A DAY, 50 WEEKS A YEAR, FOR 14 YEARS. In addition, of course, to all the consultations and follow ups and answering phone calls and emails, attending ASMBS meetings, etc., etc.
I CALL BULL****
In my humble opinion, of course.
But please, feel free to believe him. And make sure you appoint an angel who can let us know what happened, in case you go to Mexico and suddenly stop posting.
I called bull**** (OK, I told her to tell him that I called "shenanigans," but same diff). US Patent No. 8,000,000 (that's 8 million patents in over 200 years) was issued in the last couple of weeks. Statistically, only 1 in 100 patents is ever commercialized. That means only 80,000 patents have ever been commercialized - in 200 years! So, I feel pretty comfortable calling bull**** on this.
Even if you throw in a multiple of 50 (a ridiculously too high number - people rarely file in more than EP, JP, AU, CA, KR, TW, IN, ID, MY and a few other manufacturing centers) for foreign equivalents of each invention having a US patent, that would be 5000 US patents (times 50 for their foreign equivalents), which is STILL a ridiculous number to be necessary to manufacture an iPhone (remember, this means 5000 licensed patents out of 80,000 that were EVER commercialized, or 16% of all patents that have ever been commercialized, in 200+ years).
And even if you postulate that what he was talking about included about 50% filed patent applications, most of which will never mature into an issued patent, and their potential foreign equivalents, you get to a number which is REALLY about 2500 issued patents needed to manufacture an iPhone, which still sounds ridiculous (8% of all patents ever commercialized??), but is at least remotely plausible.
With that said, I will do the following analysis on what I believe are the nonsense numbers that your surgeon seems to be claiming, and demonstrate why I don't have to do any further investigation to dismiss them out of hand:
The two Drs. Rabkin, over the course of about 14 years of doing the DS, have probably not performed more than 2500 surgeries. Probably more like 2300. But let's use 2500 as a nice round number. Of those, probably no more than 20% (and more likely fewer than 10%) were revisions. That gives you at most 500 revisions, and 2000 virgin surgeries. The DS has been their PRIMARY bariatric procedure for most of the last 10 years at least (the first few years, the DS was not done that often because of insurance issues).
Between the two surgeons, who are the PREMIERE DS surgeons in the field, 10 years, 2000 virgin surgeries, 500 revisions. That's 200 virgin, 50 revisions per year, or about 250 surgeries TOTAL yearly.
And yet your surgeon claims to have done 250+ lapband to DS revisions and 300+ virgin DSs. In addition to the bazillions of other surgeries he has personally done.
And in all the years we have been here, nobody - NOT EVEN SUE, WHO USED HIM FOR FOLLOW-UP WITH HER CRAPBAND, has EVER heard of him as a DS surgeon AT ALL, much less as a REVISION surgeon.
And looking at those numbers, let's give him credit for doing bariatric surgeries for ALL of the last 14 years at the same high pace - that would be 1000 surgeries a year, or - given that there are 2000 working hours in the average year, a surgery EVERY 2 HOURS, NON-STOP, 8 HOURS A DAY, 50 WEEKS A YEAR, FOR 14 YEARS. In addition, of course, to all the consultations and follow ups and answering phone calls and emails, attending ASMBS meetings, etc., etc.
I CALL BULL****
In my humble opinion, of course.
But please, feel free to believe him. And make sure you appoint an angel who can let us know what happened, in case you go to Mexico and suddenly stop posting.
Ms. Cal Culator
on 8/24/11 1:19 pm - Tuvalu
on 8/24/11 1:19 pm - Tuvalu
On August 24, 2011 at 8:12 PM Pacific Time, DianaCox wrote:
You know, I just had a conversation with my daughter, who is a patent paralegal for a computer innards manufacturer. She SAID she talked to her boss, who is a VP level patent attorney. She SAID he told her that the Apple iPhone required licenses to 250,000 patents in order to be manufactured.I called bull**** (OK, I told her to tell him that I called "shenanigans," but same diff). US Patent No. 8,000,000 (that's 8 million patents in over 200 years) was issued in the last couple of weeks. Statistically, only 1 in 100 patents is ever commercialized. That means only 80,000 patents have ever been commercialized - in 200 years! So, I feel pretty comfortable calling bull**** on this.
Even if you throw in a multiple of 50 (a ridiculously too high number - people rarely file in more than EP, JP, AU, CA, KR, TW, IN, ID, MY and a few other manufacturing centers) for foreign equivalents of each invention having a US patent, that would be 5000 US patents (times 50 for their foreign equivalents), which is STILL a ridiculous number to be necessary to manufacture an iPhone (remember, this means 5000 licensed patents out of 80,000 that were EVER commercialized, or 16% of all patents that have ever been commercialized, in 200+ years).
And even if you postulate that what he was talking about included about 50% filed patent applications, most of which will never mature into an issued patent, and their potential foreign equivalents, you get to a number which is REALLY about 2500 issued patents needed to manufacture an iPhone, which still sounds ridiculous (8% of all patents ever commercialized??), but is at least remotely plausible.
With that said, I will do the following analysis on what I believe are the nonsense numbers that your surgeon seems to be claiming, and demonstrate why I don't have to do any further investigation to dismiss them out of hand:
The two Drs. Rabkin, over the course of about 14 years of doing the DS, have probably not performed more than 2500 surgeries. Probably more like 2300. But let's use 2500 as a nice round number. Of those, probably no more than 20% (and more likely fewer than 10%) were revisions. That gives you at most 500 revisions, and 2000 virgin surgeries. The DS has been their PRIMARY bariatric procedure for most of the last 10 years at least (the first few years, the DS was not done that often because of insurance issues).
Between the two surgeons, who are the PREMIERE DS surgeons in the field, 10 years, 2000 virgin surgeries, 500 revisions. That's 200 virgin, 50 revisions per year, or about 250 surgeries TOTAL yearly.
And yet your surgeon claims to have done 250+ lapband to DS revisions and 300+ virgin DSs. In addition to the bazillions of other surgeries he has personally done.
And in all the years we have been here, nobody - NOT EVEN SUE, WHO USED HIM FOR FOLLOW-UP WITH HER CRAPBAND, has EVER heard of him as a DS surgeon AT ALL, much less as a REVISION surgeon.
And looking at those numbers, let's give him credit for doing bariatric surgeries for ALL of the last 14 years at the same high pace - that would be 1000 surgeries a year, or - given that there are 2000 working hours in the average year, a surgery EVERY 2 HOURS, NON-STOP, 8 HOURS A DAY, 50 WEEKS A YEAR, FOR 14 YEARS. In addition, of course, to all the consultations and follow ups and answering phone calls and emails, attending ASMBS meetings, etc., etc.
I CALL BULL****
In my humble opinion, of course.
But please, feel free to believe him. And make sure you appoint an angel who can let us know what happened, in case you go to Mexico and suddenly stop posting.
IN FACT...I went to him to have the saline removed prior to my revision to the DS and I speak enough Spanish--and he enough English--that we discussed my esophageal dysmotility rather intelligently and he never ONCE mentioned that he had done a band-to-DS revision.
He is charming.
And the OP might even get something CLOSE to a DS and might even survive the surgery. But that will only make her very damned lucky and not at all correct.
He was arrested in a sting operation !
http://www.integratedfraudsolutions.com/docs/Six_Tijuana_doc tors_arrested_in_sting.pdf
Nothing listed here on the DS.. and we all k now the only TRUE DS doc in Mexico is Dr Ungson
http://www.onlinemedicaltourism.com/index.php?id=9&services_ id=460
Here is another site.. no mention of the DS anywhere
http://www.placidway.com/treatment-detail/19/Obesity/Bariatr ic-Surgery-Treatment-Abroad
Where did you find that he has done 300 virgin DS's ?
If your willing to go to Mexico, go the tried and true Dr Ungson.
I hope you reconsider your decision. Sounds like bait and switch. Sorry
http://www.integratedfraudsolutions.com/docs/Six_Tijuana_doc tors_arrested_in_sting.pdf
Nothing listed here on the DS.. and we all k now the only TRUE DS doc in Mexico is Dr Ungson
http://www.onlinemedicaltourism.com/index.php?id=9&services_ id=460
Here is another site.. no mention of the DS anywhere
http://www.placidway.com/treatment-detail/19/Obesity/Bariatr ic-Surgery-Treatment-Abroad
Where did you find that he has done 300 virgin DS's ?
If your willing to go to Mexico, go the tried and true Dr Ungson.
I hope you reconsider your decision. Sounds like bait and switch. Sorry
Ginger<><
Revision #2 Dr John Rabkin June 21, 2013; First Revision DS - Dr Maguire 5-18-09; First DS 7-15-2003 Dr Clark Warden = Third time is the charm 
If you are self-pay I would recommend Dr. Ungson in Mexico. His rate is reasonable and he is an amazing surgeon.
I had a serious complication after surgery, through no fault of the surgeon and Dr. Ungson patched me up without any additional surgeon charge. I had to pay for the hospital stay which was an extra $10,000 but travel insurance covered it.
Please please please don't go with a surgeon that is not on the vetted list
I had a serious complication after surgery, through no fault of the surgeon and Dr. Ungson patched me up without any additional surgeon charge. I had to pay for the hospital stay which was an extra $10,000 but travel insurance covered it.
Please please please don't go with a surgeon that is not on the vetted list
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