Northside Hospital of Atlanta Bariatric Center

I have my first meeting with Dr. Daly Friday, August 22nd at 12:45. It's much earlier than I thought it would be. I am very excited as I have been looking into this for a very long time.




I met Dr. Daly and I have to say that he answered every question I had exactly the way I wanted him to. At last count he said he has performed over 200 lap procedures and over 500 open procedures. He has had no real complications to speak of and seemed very condident in his abilities as a surgeon. His office staff is very accomodating and friendly as well. Right now I am just finishing up my additional testing that needs done and then we can send the paperwork to the insurance company and wait for approval!



I finished up my testing and all info was sent to the insurance company. I was approved in two days! My surgery is scheduled for October 7th. I meet with the anesthesiologist and Dr. Daly on Friday, September 19th to finalize things and pay my co-pay, etc. I am soooo excited!

****Post-Op**** I just want to say that I am now 17 days post op and wanted to let everyone know that I have seen Dr. Daly once since surgery to have my drain removed. I have also had to page the office twice to ask a "is this normal?" type of question. Both times, my call was returned by Dr. Daly himself within 3-5 minutes of my hanging up the phone. This is the kind of thing that is really important to me as I know that a lot of other surgeons in the Atlanta area are available for the surgery only and, once it's over, you only deal with interns or nurses. I go back to see Dr. Daly in two more weeks for my first official checkup. It's nice to know that I have a WLS doctor I can rely on if I have problems or questions and I think it's important for people who are considering this surgery to know that Dr. Daly is this type of doctor.

I immediately liked Dr. Hart. He was very informative and spent lots of time examining me and explaining the surgery to me and my husband.
His office staff was very busy, but nice. It took forever to get an appt. just to meet him, though. That is probably what I liked the least, waiting for an appt. by going to a nutritionist for 3 months before I could meet him. That was the most frustrating thing, and I didn't want to alienate the office staff by getting pushy. I think he has excellent training and experience. He definitely emphasizes aftercare. I understand he is hiring a nutritionist to be in his office. He is very straight with the risks/benefits of surgery. I have known people who have had surgery with him, and I am confident of his competence, but the ultimate test will be my surgery, since I'm a difficult case. I think he'll do just fine.

My impressions of Dr. Daly were very favorable. His is experienced and has a good
record. His office staff are extremely personable but very busy. They did not always call me back when they said that they would. However, it is understandable.

09/30/03

Well, I have had my WLS. Dr. Daly is THE best doctor I have EVER had. He is conscienious, honest, trust worthy, sincere,
funny, handsome (not necessarily a requirement, I know, but it doesn't "hurt"!) has a great track record, intelligent, has wonderful office staff, genuine, perfectionist with his skills, & warm. I had my surgery 04-07-03. I have lost 70 lbs. I am a "senior" (60)so have lost a little slower than some of the youngsters! But, I am very, very happy with my progress. Dr. Daly encourages me not to worry about the numbers. I have a new life!!! So much has changed for me mentally. You cannot describe it!! As for my previous remark about the call-backs. That must have been a one time thing...they have been fabulous! So sweet. And don't rush you, nor treat you like you are one in a cattle "run". God Bless them all. Happy in Ball Ground, Martha

Dr. Daly seemed confident and answered all my questions. I appreciated the fact that he met with me one on one and not in group setting like some other doctors. Dr. Daly is always in a hurry so be prepared with questions. Be prepared to wait before being seen. Sometimes up to hour after scheduled appt. The office apparently is strapped for exam rooms at some times.

1st surgery seemed to go well. Had to have second due to scar tissue. Was very pleased with Dr. Daly's care. Only problem was i was never sure when Dr. Daly was going to show up at hospital.

If you dont want to pay more than stipulated by your insurance then don't go to Dr. Daly. If insurance pays less than 6500 (which almost all do apparently) he will expect you to make up the difference before the surgery is even scheduled. Dr. Daly's staff said MY upfront payment would come out of the portion of the bill that was my responsibility (10% up to 1500). However, the claim was delayed and by the time Dr. Daly got paid i was up to 1500 so my part of the bill for surgeon was 0. Staff says that because UHC changed payment amount and only paid 4500 that i was lucky that Dr. Daly was not billing me for an additional 1300 and that i was not going to get my upfront payment back. Ins Co. says, because i paid up front its now between me and Dr. D.

I have interviewed several surgeons in my WLS pre-op journey. I have considered Drs. Macik/Waites,Hart,Hoffman, Champion and Dr. Duncan. After meeting with Dr. Daly - I was immediately comfortable and knew that he would be the choice for me. I met with him for about 45 minutes in a one-on-one consultation. I didn't feel rushed or pushed for time. I did have to wait for over an hour for the first consultation - but it was well worth it to have the personal attention and to be able to ask all of my questions. Dr. Daly explained that he does the Lap surgery on almost everyone and how he does not have a BMI limit. He encourages his patients to continue regular visits with him for the first year after surgery and 2 years if needed. He seems very confident and sure of himself. He gave me a whole speech on how he is qualified to be my surgeon and how he is an industry leader in Atlanta. I feel confident so far. His office staff, specifically Carolyn has been excellent! Carolyn gave me the 'hand holding' I needed for insurance approval assistance and made me feel like she would spend 8 hours on the phone with me personally if I needed it.

I will update more after the surgery. As of today, I have not been scheduled for surgery. Dr. Daly's office should be sending my insurance information off to Southcare this week.

Dr. Williams is very professional and likeable. He is very up front about successes and failures and has a manner that put my wife and I at ease. Since my wife had alreay had the surgery he waived some of the counseling sessions and we were also able to get through office visits quicker since we both knew what to expect. He is very good about explaining things in layman's terms.

He did address the risks of the surgery and was very forthcoming about any problems he had personally had during surgeries with none of the "I am the greatest" complex some doctors seem to have.

He works with Ken Champion and the two of them are usually available to back each other up if there is a problem which provided myself, and my wife, with an extra measure of security. He seems to be a very competent surgeon and handled a slight complication in my surgery (had to be done retro-colic) with no apparent trouble. His bedside manner is very good and he took time to answer questions and let me know what to expect during my hospital stay. He seems to be a very cautious surgeon who would rather take extra steps (gastro-grph and swallow test and drains) than risk problems with patients.

He has my family's confidence and my wife and I are both happy with our surgeries. I would rate him a 9.

Dr. Richard has got to be one of the most caring and kind hearted doctors I have yet to meet. His beside manner, his his soft spoken demeanor, and his willinginess to answer even the most redundant of questions gives him an A+ in my book.

Dr. WIlliams and his staff are all wonderful people! I ahve had many questions both pre and post op and they have never failed to let me down! Dr. Williams himself called be 2 days after I was released from the hospital to check on me. That really showed me he truly cared! The have a program where you can go and excersize with other surgery patients and at no cost. My only concerns with Dr. Williams was that he had not been practicing as long as Dr. Champion, but after speaking to him personally, all inhibitions were gone.

I did have to wait (about and hour) from my appointment time, but it wasn't a BIG deal. I found Dr. Hart's staff very friendly - which must be hard to do in such a hectic office. They are wonderful. Dr. Hart is very matter-of-fact. He asked questions, and explained the lap RNY to me and my husband. He was pleasant and seems very competent. (I figure that's why my appointment got pushed back - he take as much time as he needs to with each patient.) To me, that's a good thing! He recommends all his patient get The Complete Guide to Obesity Surgery. (I already had it, thanks to Evelyn.) It is a VERY informative book! I would recommend it to anyone. I don't think there is a structed aftercare program, but he does have a nutritionist he recommends and "The Book" is a good resource. Of course, this website's "library" has been where I have found answers to every question I've had so far....and it's from people who have "been there". I feel very confident about the decision.

My first impression of Dr Hart was that he was down to business and forthright. I appreciated his straightforward approach..
I have "heard" not so great things about his office staff, but I will defer judgement on that because his staff has been nothing but professional, kind, and very helpful to me since my first phone call to them a few months back. I look forward to my relationship with this office... His nurse was very cute..great sense of humor...