Dr. Verboonen

Has anyone had surgery with this dr. in mexico I think I may have found the Dr. for my Bypass surgery I have the lapband  for three yrs and I have gained weight I am going to revise by lapband and get the rny bypass instead Dr. verboonen website is goodbye obesity has any one here and bad that had with his surgeries anyone with information please let me know I would like to start the surgery process asap. Thank you 

The entire staff at www.obesitygoodbye.com is very friendly and caring. You feel this from the minute you walk in the door. A majority of the staff speaks english and there is not a language barrier. Dr. Verboonen himself is very well spoken and knowledgeable of his profession. Aftercare is well documented as Dr. Rios, Dr. Fryare or Betty will call and check on you. All practice good bedside manner. Julio, the driver, was very accommodating and helpful. I strongly recommend this surgeon.  For a round trip ticket to San Diego, it is about $300 where they pick you up and take you to Tijuana .  The hotel is usually included in the price.  One day and overnight in the clinic (as they call it, it is more like a private hospital) then 2 days in a very, very nice 4 star hotel.  You can have someone go with you and stay in the same room. There are 2 beds. 
One of the people on my friends list went to the same doctor but was not as satisfied with her experience.  If you go to the “south of the border” forum, click on a Dr.’s name it will bring you to the Dr.’s site.  There you will find the OH members that used him and you can send messages to them and also read how their experiences were.

I took chicken broth, single-serving jello, apple juice, bottled water, and tea with so I did not have to buy anything.

I had my surgery there too.. I had a great experience.. check out my profile. just make sure they have plenty of pain meds ordered.. thats one thing  I didn't get right away but it was quickly taken care of when they were aware of my situation.. Wendy

Hi, Did you have the RNY Surgery I don't see any post of  anyone having the rny surgery I only seen Lapband?

Hello Diane ;)  I didn't have RNY, I had the lapband. I know this surgeon does both kinds of surgeries.. Wendy

Dr. Verboonen has done 157 RNY surgeries.  He does both Open and Lap.  As you are reading this if you look underneath my picture, to the left, and you will see his name there.  Yoiu can click on his name and it will take you to his information and statistics.  From that page there is a link that has the his patients that are on OH and you can email them from this site.  I hope this is helpful. Eugene

I don't know about the quality of Surgery but personally I wouldn't go to a Doctor that has been arrested by the FBI for Insurance Fraud.... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030410-9999_1m10f raud.html

 I swear I didn't know about this! OH my goodness why wasn't I a patient when he was billing the insurances? I could have saved money..lol oh wait I just finished reading..so did these patients end up having to pay that money back?..but you know what a lot of Dr's in T.J still do this.. I STILL hear about it .. money makes people do some really bad things...

I don't believe the patients knew it was being done.  I *thought* he was billing their insurance without their knowledge.  He was collecting from them on a cash pay and then billing insurance illegally on top of it. He really does not have a very good reputation.  People like him because he is "nice".  Nice does not mean skilled.  He has had a lot of problems with trickier procedures such as bypass, sleeves, and revisions.  Many complications and issues. I know one person that he banded, she had no problems.  She went to a US doctor and the US doc gave her an infection after a fill.  She ended up eroding and losing her band.  She started to regain so she went back to him for a revision to a sleeve.  He completely blew it in surgery and long story short, she was in a TJ hospital for three weeks.  She was strong enough to travel to a US hospital where she ended up having emergency surgery to try and fix the damage.  She now has a feeding tube, virtually no stomach, and will never eat regular food again.  She is quite ill and to be honest, I'm not sure she'll survive this one. Another person went to him for a band.  He filled her Inamed 4cc band during surgery.  A HUGE no-no.  You don't fill a 4cc band during surgery.  She woke up and between swelling and restriction she couldn't keep her own saliva down.  She needed an unfill.  He was insisting on an additional $300 to go to a radiology place and unfill her band of saline that he should have never placed there to begin with.  The patient did not bring $300 in cash with her, she couldn't afford it anyway. This person's friend called me and asked what to do.  I suggested finding another TJ doc that would be willing to unfill her and I believe that is what she did although I can't swear to it.  I'm not positive of how she ended up getting unfilled. One of the problems is that Mexican doctors depend heavily on reputation.  If they have a poor reputation they have nothing.  If there is a problem or complication nobody wants to help Verboonan because they don't want to be associated with him for fear of reputation issues.  Same holds true for a few other Mexican docs that are really bad. Personally, the prison time was enough reason to not go to Verboonan.  If he has no problem screwing US insurance companies, why wouldn't he have a problem screwing over any other US person?  A lack of integrity and ethics is a lack of integrity and ethics.  One doesn't have a total lack of concern for people to the point of stealing from them but suddenly develops morality in the OR.

well honestly Idon't know how long this 2nd patient that you were mentioning was but the Dr didn't charge me for the first fill so having to pay 300 sounds weird.. I guess maybe through the years he has changed the way he practices because he has so many people going through  his doors from both here the U.S and MX  I had a good experience with him and through this process met quite a few other people of course his patients and everyone had shared the same experience. As for the insurance.. I don't know about all that..lol I think its funny .. I would have never imagined.. but I wouldn't call  him a bad Dr just because of the prison thing.. I feel so bad for that 1st patient, its so sad that we can't be guarenteed 100% satisfaction when it comes to these surgeries.. I guess I am lucky that everything has worked as it should in my situation.. Wendy