NEED HELP PICKING A DR. IN MA.

Hi Kelly, I went to Saints Memorial Hostpital in Lowell, MA, my surgeon was Dr. Michael Jiser and there is also another one named Dr. Shen. I loved my surgeon and and a friend of mine had dr shen and liked him very much also. This hospital also has a very strict pre an dfollow up program and 3 monthly meetings. I know this is kind of far for you , but good luck. Michelle

Another New Englane Medical Center, I had Dr Tarnoff, same office as Dr Shikora. They have a great support staff and are wonderfully involved in every aspect from nutrition to surgery to exercise. I had mine 11/23 am down 64lbs with no complications. I wish I had done this a couple years ago.

Hi, I am meeting with Dr. Lautz at bWH. I will let you know what I think of him... Theresa

I've been going through the WLS program at UMAss in Worcester and have been quite happy. I'm using Dr. Kelly and my date is 3/16. NEMC is definitely a fantastic program, no doubt about it. I started there, but for whatever reason got a funny vibe. I really can't explain it, but it just didn't feel like a good fit for me. NEMC is a terrific program and I don't want to diss it in any way. Just didn't feel right to me. I went to the UMAss orientation meetings and immediately felt more comfortable. No accounting for that, just is what happened. UMass is an excellent program as well. Dr. Kelly was also on the Department of Public Health panel that evaluated WLS programs and came up with what the standards should be for programs. I know UMAss already meets those standards, and I'm sure NEMC does as well. You can get the study on the DPH website. At least two of the NEMC surgeons were on that panel, too. Not sure what other surgeons were on there as I wouldn't recognize their names. What I would suggest is that you call and get information from any program you think you might be interested in. Then get the information about complication rates and such. Both NEMC and UMAss are quite open with this information. The orientation sessions are mandatory at both NEMC and UMass, not sure about the other programs. You'll likely get a feel for a place at the orientation meetings, so you can then decide where YOU feel most comfortable. Good luck and take care. Mary Ellen

I really like dr lautz at brigham very kind man.. MY surgery is scheduled for 3/29/04. Theresa