How many years experience should Dr have?

How many years experience should my doctor have? He's only been doing the switch for 2 years.... He's done Gastric bypass with no deaths for 17 years... He said he's had 2 complications with the switch... He said he can do the switch in 4 hours but he takes his time..... Do you think I should stick to gastric bypass based on this info? I want the switch but I want to make sure my doctor has had enough experience. What you think? Thanks so much! **It's Dr. Roc Bauman from Concord NC **

no, I would not go with bypass, I would find a surgeon with more experience doing the DS.

How many years experience should I look for? Thank u so much for responding!?

I would be looking at number of DSs he's done. If he's had 5 years experience with the DS and has done all of 3 in those 5 years...how much better would he be than the one who's done 50 in one year? I'm glad to see another surgeon coming into his own with the DS, but another question is whether he's doing the traditional DS or the newest hybrid (SIPS, SADI, LoopDS). A lot of surgeons are jumping into the hybrid without having ever done the DS before, so it must be easier to learn.

I would look for the surgeon who has done the most true DS's, not how many years he's been doing them. Those two he had complications with , might be the only two he has done!

make sure he is not doing a SADI,or a SIPPS instead of a true DS.

I agree with Val - make very sure he's doing the real DS (assuming that's what you want) and not the experimental version some docs are calling by various names that does not have documented long term results as of yet.

I would also agree with Holly Kim - if the DS is what you want and he doesn't have enough experience to satisfy you, pick a different surgeon rather than a different operation. You are the one who will live with this decision for the rest of your life. If you have to travel further from home, or wait a bit longer, to get the surgery that is right for YOU, it's worth the effort.

Larra

Jim,

I know you are happy with your SADi and Im glad you are and it has worked well for you. But your still very new into yours also.

At the end of the day Its still an investigational procedure, with no real stats yet. And surgeons who get it covered by insurance are commiting fraud as they may be putting it down as multiple separate procedures, so not cool there. If self pay folks should be aware that many insurance wont cover problems from investigational procedures. Is what it is.

I do think it is a far smarter surgery than the RNY for a host of reasons. And maybe one day will replace it.

But I highly doubt it will ever surpase the true DS in results, esp thoes done with the Hess method.

Number of years doesn't matter. You say your doctor has been doing the DS for 2 years and he has had 2 complications, but how many DSes has he performed in those 2 years? I also don't care how fast he is. Speed has nothing to do with competency and expertise.

Do not settle on a surgery simply because that's what your surgeon has the most experience doing. Unless you care more about the surgeon and the surgery, I suggest finding another surgeon.