Baptist Hospital expriences...

I am trying to get approved to have WLS surgery at Baptist Hospital/Nashville... and was wondering if anyone out there had used Baptist, and how long it took you to be approved... (especially those who had been initially turned down)..??? I want the good,bad and sometimes ugly! lol I know I have a long road ahead, but I am going to count on you guys to help me through, is that okay? I have been so inspired by you!! Blessings to all of you!

I used Baptist. The only problem I had was that my insurance company said they never received the first set of papers. I had waited a week after the initial filing before I called them. When they said they didn't have anything on me, I called the clinic and the insurance person faxed another set that same day. The 2nd set of paperwork was sent December 19th and I was approved January 3rd. I think one of the things that helped me was that I had my Weigh****chers membership books covering a solid 2 year period. My PCP also wrote a wonderful letter detailing my diet attempts including 6 months of Meridia starting June 2005. My starting bmi was 50.8. I had Diabetes that was not being controlled even with 3 oral meds, high cholesterol, severe joint pain, shortness of breath, Intracranial Hypertension and I snored. I had gained weight on Weigh****chers. In 6 months on Meridia I managed to lose 17 lbs. I was miserable and I had given up. WLS was the light at the end of my long tunnel. I would encourage you to get active on this board. These ladies (and gentlemen) will lift you up when you are ready to give up. They will encourage you and inspire you. They will also let you vent your frustrations without judging you. Most of all, they will be there when you need someone who understands what you are going through. Good luck and welcome! Susan

Sonya, I just had my surgery about a week and a half ago. While I love the Metabolic Surgery Center at Baptist, I had a difficult time with the nurses pos-surgery. They would make me wait 3+ hours for bathing assistance, gave me a food tray with SUGAR on it when I wasn't approved yet for pureed food, they gave me medicine for a yeast infection in a pill form and didn't understand why I had to have it crushed. On top of that, they made me wait 4 hours for discharge and the nurse tech that escorted me out of the hospital, almost ran me into a set of double doors. They also told my surgeon that I wasn't doing my breathing treatments when i was. Just warning you. Everyone I've talked to said don't go to Baptist. I've met about 2-3 people with their own horror stories. I will say that the surgery nurses and pre-op, were wonderful and made me feel very at peace and as comfortable as possible. Good and bad. There you go. I did give lots of kudos to my surgeon and his staff on my page, so feel free to look, if you'd like. -Alyssa

Hey Im new to WLS too. I am also going to Baptist so far I have not heard if I am approved through my insurance but she said she would call me this week. So hopefully!!! So far everyone in the office has seemed really nice but I have not really had experiencies with them yet. But mostly I have heard good things. I think that any hospital you go there is always going to be those few nurses and staff that really don't care. Good luck to you I hope we get to meet soon which Im sure we will.