Highland Hospital Bariatrics Bariatric Center

Dr. O'Malley seems very well informed, and personally dedicated to keeping abreast of the latest weight loss techniques. He was very upbeat about the procedure, and realistic about a patient's need to dedicate themselves to losing weight.

On the other hand, during the personal appointment he was distracted and very impersonal. Glad I'm not going to him for his sense of humor!

The office staff seemed great. Because I have to do a great deal of traveling, speaking and physical work within a few weeks of my scheduled surgery date, Diane has promised to let me know right away of any cancellations before that time. I can always hope. . .

I think a surgeon ought to practice improving their bedside manners, as it can go a long way toward reassuring a nervous surgical candidate.

A wonderful and skilled surgeon. Not overeager. Wants to be sure patients understand what they are getting into with this procedure. He only does RNY and is the only surgeon in Rochester who does Lap. I found him to be aloof and business-like, but personable and patient enough.

His office staff is pleasant enough, but they are too busy to get anything done in a timely fashion. My experience is that I have had to wait every step of the way for them to do something. As an example, I have been waiting 3 weeks for them to complete my disability paperwork. I will be back to work before I get it back. And, I have found that contacting the office staff on the phone is an effort in futility. They don't have voice mail and you can't leave a message. It's great if you have all afternoon to keep trying the phone, but frustrating if you don't want to sit by the phone. I understand that they're busy, but this seems to me to be ridiculous.

10/01/03 I had my surgery on 9/12/03. I felt totally confident in Dr. O'malley's skills and he did not let me down. My surgery went well and he is just great! No complaints whatsoever. His office staff is very helpful. Aftercare is stressed and mandatory. Dr. O'Malley covers all the bases of before, during & after surgery. I would rate him as a 10. I believe that his surgical competence and bedside manner were both great. He's very compasionate and really cares.

07/31/03
Had my first group meeting today with Dr. O'Malley from Highland hospital. Very straight forward with the risk of gastric bypass and how you can still fail. Seemed nice and very confident in his skills. Diane talked first who works in the office and seemed very nice, helpful and on our side to get the surgery approved. Kim Meacham NP who works in the office is known to me and is an excellent nurse practioner. They stress aftercare and followups for life which seemed very important. I would rate their program a 10 from what I have looked into with other surgeons.

So far, in my opinion, Dr. O'Malley has been relatively successful in attempting to reach out and make potential patients aware of "ALL" the steps in this life changing surgery. Although at this point I am two weeks away from having my surgery done, I have been quite impressed with the steps required by Dr. O'Malley to insure people are educated and informed before making the final decision on whether or not this type of surgery is right for him/her.

As far as his office staff are concerned, I have had no problems whatsoever with any questions I needed answered or any other information needed by either myself or Dr. O'Malley. Very helpful, very knowledgeable, very polite and most of all....VERY BUSY as more individuals are seeking him out.

Once my surgery is completed, I will stop back in and update this page.

I began looking for a surgeon in 12/2002. I narrowed my search to Dr. Ianolli and Dr. O'Malley. Both are extremely competent and talented men who are passionate and very knowledgeable about what they do. Dr. Ianolli does not perform laprascopic and won't until he has done 100 open procedures at Unity Health where he is practicing now. He also only performs surgery one day a week so even after approval there is a significant wait (about 3 months). He has worked with Dr. O'Malley and only had wonderful things to say about him. His receptionist, Linda, has a pretty flat affect and I found her to be cold. While Dr. Ianolli was warm and attentive. He respected the fact that I had already gain a great deal of knowledge about the procedure and was my guide vs. my teacher. I was more anxious about meeting Dr. O'Malley because of the whole set up. Group meeting (Ugh!), very structured, set routine. Afraid of being part of a impersonal conveyor line. Well, the first thing I have to say is I love his receptionist Diane. What a peach. She makes you feel important and provides you personal service despite a clearly busy work environment. My meetings with Dr. O'Malley have been brief since I was pre-approved when I met him. I do not have a feel for him personally other than he is competent, knows what he is doing and will be perfroming his 1000 surgery this year. I hope to get to know him better. Hey, he's Irish so I am feeling pretty lucky to have been able to choose between two great surgeons. I went with O'Malley because he performs laproscopic and the wait for a surgery date was not as long.

I recently had my group and individual appointments with Dr. O'Malley. At the group session he seemed at bit stiff, but when meeting with him one on one, he just seemed quite serious about his work, very much to-the-point, and no nonsense...but he also was easy to ask questions of, and completely answered everything with clear, easy to understand explainations. He seems professional, polite, and I have great confidence in him. His staff, Diane and Kim have both been great to work with, and extemely helpful. I am very pleased that I will be having surgery with Dr. O'Malley.

My primary care physician, who I just love and respect immensely recommended Dr. O'Malley and told me he is the best and well worth waiting for. So when I called in Oct. 2002 and found out I couldn't even have my group consult with Dr. O until February I took it.

2 days after my phone call to schedule the group consult I received a thick packet of info from his office: thorough explanation of the Gastric bypass procedure and how it works, the basic diet after surgery, clear outline of all requirements in preparation for the surgery, extensive paperwork for me to fill out. I was very pleased to receive so much information and know immediately how the process would work.

I had my group consultat with Dr. O'Malley in February and was again impressed by the organization and thoroughness. Diane (his office manager/assistant) first gave each of us another packet of detailed information and spoke about insurance approval process, answering questions for a period of time regarding that aspect. Then Dr. O's presentation- I really liked his style and manner.

He is clear and to the point, explains things simply and is direct when answering questions, never evasive. He has a wonderful, gentle sense of humor as well which I really appreciated and noted here and there throughout his presentation. He was not at all rushed and stayed to answer every question, taking his time as he did so and was quite personable.

Much emphasis was placed on WLS being a TOOL not a cure, and I know for me this is important- I am not having brain surgery!! But Dr. O stressed this again and again, the success of the surgery really is up to the patient to utilize the tool effectively and make the most of what it can offer as a support, in a major LIFESTYLE CHANGE.

A support group was recommended pre-op, which I did take and thought was very useful, and there is a post-op support group as well. Information and education is really available and encouraged.

I have every confidence in Dr. O's ability, his experience and knowledge, and his compassion.

I met with Dr. O'Malley on March 13th and he seemed very pleasant. It is weird that I won't see him now until the day of surgery. His office is very helpful. I had questions that came up after my meeting and I called in and heard back from his assistant nurse.

Dr. O'Malley comes highly recommended by the Rochester medical community. He is very professional and a little stand offish. I loved his class on the surgical procedure and learned much from this class. Like that he emphasizes that the real journey to weight loss occurrs after surgery, that the surgery is not the cure but the help.