Anthony Petrick, M.D. Bariatrics Bariatric Center
Danville is a wonderful hospital, I actually had open heart surgery there they are the best. I found that the bariatric department was great. Dr. Petrick had a great demeanor and made me feel confident that everything was going to be ok and it was. Danville Medical Hospital is in my opinion the best hospital I have ever been in, and believe me I've been to many.
My surgeon was very pleasant and informative to all the question I asked. He was there for me before and after my surgery when needed and still today...because he is in a Center of Excellance it made me more comfortable about everything..Being asmatic I needed to have all endes covered, which Geisinger has all that and more....I would recommend him and his staff (Michelle) and the new Dr. Gabrielson to anyone...
My surgery will be (was) on February 20, 2009. I was impressed with Dr. Petrick's 'bedside' manner, and the way that he put me at ease. rnrnI wasn't alone with my first meeting with Dr. Petrick. My son accompanied me to the appointment, and for a Doctor to impress a 20 year old Navy Vet ... well, that says something.
When I first met Dr Petrick, I was impressed with his professional manner. He was very thorough and explained the risks involved with this surgery. At the same time, He encouaged me that due to my younger age and lack of severe comorbidities that I should do well and recover quickly from the Laproscopic surgery. He also explained that I would need to be on vitamins and have B-12 shots for the rest of my life to remain as healthy as I can be and that I would be referred back to the nutrition clinic after surgery for ongoing follow up. 05-22-07 After having my surgery, I can honestly say that Dr. Petrick and his team really did a great job. I had such a positive experience and would recommend him to anyone wanting the laproscopic procedure.
My first impression of my surgeon was that of trust. He was very informative and answered all of my questions without hesitation, including his mortality rate. I would have liked to have been able to meet with him at least 1 other time prior to surgery just to become a bit more aquainted. My surgeon is part of a team of doctors who make you complete a 7 month program during which time you must meet with nutritionists, psychiatry, have numerous tests done, etc., all in preparation for surgery. I would give my doctor a 10 for skills but only a 7 for quantity of time spent meeting with patients. I saw more of his assistants than i did him.
Being that I needed to have laproscopic surgery due to tendency to scare easily, Dr. Petrick was my man. I had heard that he was great, but hard to get in to and a longer waiting period for the surgery. Well getting into him wasn't a problem and when I did meet him he was very informative for both my husband and myself. I actually expressed a concern that we had plans of going away Memorial Day weekend and the time frame I had heard would put me about that time which meant I was going to have to wait even longer. This was the end of February 07, he said let me check on something, left the room came back and said how about the 29th of March....I was in shock, here is was I was 4 weeks away from my surgery. I met with him again briefly 2 weeks pre-op to confirm things and start all my restrictions. The wait on surgery day was terrible, everything was backed up and when you are so nervous anyway, waiting makes it much worse. I was scheduled for a noon surgery, I was never taken to pre-op until 1:45 and to surgery @ 4pm. Not exactly sure what happened but @ 6pm Dr. Petrick called down to my DH that I was fine, everything went well, they repaired a hernia in the belly button while there so I had 2 extra holes but that I was on my way to recovery. At 7 my DH went to my assigned room but I still was not there and he was then told I was still in the OR but almost ready to go to the recovery room. Needless to say for whatever reasons after that I never got to the recovery room until 8:30pm that night and then they couldn't \"keep me awake\". I remember seeing and talking to my DH and telling him to go home, that I was ok and then the next thing I knew it was mid-night and they were finally taking me to my room. Dr. Petrick didn't make it in the next day, but he did come see me on my discharge day (surgery on Thursday, home on Saturday). For being such a \"busy\" surgeon, I fealt more confident with being able to see him then and have seen him at each visit since. I feel very assured with his surgical competence and his bedside isn't bad either, although he scared the daylights out of my roommate and I at 7am that morning, simply by saying good morning Mrs. Miller, but in a very load tone, we all laughed about it later. I have dealt with both types in the past and really both are equally important, you want to have an excellent surgeon, but if they have no bedside manner, you may never make it to the surgery because you don't want to be \"near\" the person.
My first impression with him on Aug 23rd, 2006 was that he was a very personable Doctor.rnrnAs for his office staff they are highly prefessional & treat overweight patients with the dignity they deserve. Everyone was very pleasant & extremely helpful.rnrnThere is a good structured after care program with support groups once a month.rnrnI will update this information after I meet with him again on September 19th, 2006.