Northside Bariatric Surgery Bariatric Center

My surgeon has a precious personality. He seems concerned about what you have to say. He answers your questions and you feel at ease asking them. The nurse Nancy is really sweet too. Karen the office manager takes control and has a no nonsence personality. I like her. She took over my insurance info and took care of it all. Got me APPROVED!Dr. Macik wants you to go to before and after care. He did stress how important it is. They have monthly meetings for pre and postop patients. Very interesting.He explains and address the cons of the surgery as well as the pros. Both of his bedside manner and surgical competence is great.

Dr. Macik is very pleasant, and quiet in that he listens to you and your questions. When I joined a group of 4 or 5 others to listen to him explain about the surgery and to ask questions, I also saw the humerous side of Dr. Macik. I believe he is genuinely concerned about his patients and their ultimate health. His office staff were all friendly; be careful not to let yourself be lulled into seeing the staff as abrupt; I see them more as matter-of-fact yet caring. They are a very busy practice and I firmly believe their priority is not making a buck; rather in seeing their patients succeed and to treat as many of us with obesity as possible. Aftercare receives a large emphasis with the medical group; they heavily emphasize sticking to the infamous "white sheet" with the reminder that ultimately, it's all up to you to make it work. I give Dr. Mack a whopping "10"; he deserves it. I feel that surgical competence is a big factor; this is my body that person has in their hands; bedside manner is important, but defintely second best.

He was very pleasant and knowledgeable. He made me feel at ease. He had a group of 6 of us first meet with the insurance person from his office to go over any questions we had regarding insurance issues. He then met with us individually to speak with us and see if we had any questions or concerns we wanted answered privately. We then met again in a group and he went over in detail what the gastric bypass surgery entailed and what to expect post-op and answered our questions. His office also has a surgical weight loss support group that meets once per month. I attended a meeting and found it to be very informative and inspirational. His office staff is helpful but I feel in their rush they can at times be abrupt. I would have liked the doctor to have spent a little more time with me individually so I did not feel like cattle being herded thru the process and so that I felt a little more like when I see him again, he might actually have remembered already meeting me once before. However, he has a very good bedside manner and is very experienced and comes highly recommended. The weight loss support group is greatly encouraged both pre op and post op. The support group also has a psychologist involved that specializes in dealing with patients with weight problems and she herself has had gastric bypass surgery. The doctor did address the risks of the surgery and made sure it was understood that nothing is 100% as there are risks with any surgery and that the patient can sabatoge themselves post op. I do like it that this doctor is both very experienced with good outcomes, cares about the patients and a successful surgery and has a good bedside manner on top of it all. There are other bariatric surgeons closer to where I live that uses hospitals that are closer, but they have poor personalities. I hope this
information is helpful to someone.

The above info is from my visit with Dr. Waits. The wait for him to do surgery was over 3 months so I switched to Dr. Macik as the wait for him was only 3 months. I have not met him yet but he comes highly recommended. I will meet Dr. Macik at my preop visit, so I will put comments about him here once I actually meet with him.

2/22/01 Dr. Macik is prety quiet. Does his job and disappears. All offive visits post-op have been handled by Nancy. Haven't sen him at all...but that's OK, Nancy is competent to do what is needed post-op.

11/13/01 Received blessings for surgery from the cardiologist and pulmonologist. Just a few more tests to go. I will also be attending the required support group meeting in Dec. in Atlanta.

10/22/01 Approved and received date of 1/22/01 with Dr. Macik. Office has been wonderful and I hope to meet Dr. Macik in the support group in Nov.

9/24/01
First consult, met with Dr. Waits and then as a group with about 7 other people. Both the Dr. and his staff were great. They answered all questions and explained the surgery quite well. Karen will send out ins. paperwork within the week and then it is a waiting game. I will check with ins. later in Oct. Will prob. have surgery in Jan. if all goes well.

10/30/01 I had my first consultation today with Dr. Macik. He was very attentive and answered all my questions. Nancy, Dr. Waits wife (and nurse) at the clinic is a godsend, I absolutly adore her!

On the flip side, the staff at the desk seem to be excellent in dealing with the insurance companies, but they need to work a little more on their people skills.

I went to doctor Macik because he performed surgery for a friend of mine and she praised him. I have since met several patients of his and they all raved about him too.He is proven to be a great surgeon.

I went for my first consult with Dr. Macik on 1/7. My first impression of him was that he was not very talkative. Well, that all changed once we started talking about the surgery, he was so informative and funny. He answered all 2 pages of my questions without any hesitation.He did not sugar coat anything regarding post op experiences which I really liked. I felt really comfortable with him and knew that I had made a great decision.

The staff is very serious about their job and they give 100% and only ask that you do the same. They reassure you that they will be there for you from beginning to end. They have a great support system set up for you too!

I give Dr. Macik and his staff a 10+ .

Dr. Paul Macik first struck me as a very competent and concerned surgeon as well as being very thurough. My impression now is of the highest regards as he saved my life. Not only did I have the bypass surgery done but a teratoma cyst was found on my left ovary in one of the preliminary tests. He was able to remove the ovary during surgery too and it was the size of two grapefruit and only days befor rupturing.
Like all Dr's...you would like to meet more often with them but his time is so valuable. It is my opinion more meetings would have been better.
They have had no operational fatalities.
I think his office staff is very concerned and busy. Nancy is the nurse and also wife of the other surgeon. She is strict and loveable. Karen is a no nonsence type of person and you never meet Jerrie as she is getting your insurance approved.
In my opinion the after care is good and they are very concerned for you. They have schedule routine visits for follow up and expect you to attend support group meetings which they are heavily involved in.
They also address all aspects of the surgery. Including the risks etc. Even to be willing to discuss the complications their clinic has experienced. You do not go into surgery uninformed or I did not. Just ask the questions.
If I were going to grade them then I would definately give my surgeon an A and his Nurse an A and the rest of the staff a B as their manners can be abrupt.
Overall I worry more about surgical competence more than bedside manners...but Dr Macik was good at both in my opinion. I would have of course liked to see him more often while I was in the hospital. I was checked on only once and felt for the three days that this was not enough. On the other side he kept in constant contact with the nursing staff at my hospital and track of my condition. This is my own opinion and my own experience. Others have had both bad and good experiences with these Dr.s. What you would experience is yours...this was only opinion. I had relatively little negative becuase I had major problems solved during surgery and no complications.
Becuase my surgery and recovery went so well does not mean other of his patients feel the same way. It is my opinion that because we are individuals all our experience with surgery will be individual.

12/1901: Very skilled surgeon, I'm pleased with the results. So far, I've had no complications (knock on wood!) The after-care is okay, I'm glad I found a PCP that I'm pleased with.

I have been informed DR Macik will perform my surgery in place of DR Waits. I have never met DR Macik but I have have seen him at a support group meeting. He appears to be a warm person this helps me to feel more comfortable. I am not certain but I believe he out out of DR Waits office, his office staff would be the same as DR Waits office staff. If and when I formally meet DR Macik I will update at that time.

Update:
12/17/2001

Dr Macik is a doll and a Godsend, he performed my surgery flawlessly and I am walking proof of his talents and gift. If you meet me in person don't ask about him unless you have tons of time to spare, LOL "Cause I just simply can't say enough good things of him. In the Atlanta area give him a call, I did and I am better for it. :) I am fine, I am healthy, I feel wonderful. :) He answered all the questions I have, He shook my hand each time I saw him and he did so in a warm friendly way, he smiles lots and this just puts you right at home. He listens to what you say and answers the questions you asked. Aftercare is pretty much simple, Go home, do what he says, come to follow up at office, do what they say, Stay on the beaten path and you will do fine. Also, go to your support group meetings, they are a must.

Dr. Waits is an awesome doctor. I had my appointment today(7/30/01). He is helpful and knows what he is talking about. He provides a support group that allows new and old patients to get together to talk about the surgery. He states that there are risks, but he has been very lucky and has not lost one patient. I would rate him a 20 out of 10.

I picked Dr. Macik for surgery because he said he does not use staples, and I heard they really hurt coming out. Instead, he uses stitches that dissolve.

Dr. Macik is the best. I would tell anyone thinking about surgery to choose him.