Arkansas Bariatric Surgery Bariatric Center

Insurance wouldn't cover and since I will be self-pay I have switched to Dr. Mark Gibbs in Little Rock Arkansas. I made all the plans for the surgery and sent him all my paperwork and lab results and he scheduled me for a consultation the day before my surgery.

I was a nervous wreck and his office handled everything wonderfully. Kari is a sweetheart and she has been of the upmost help with every one of my questions and worries. She responds quickly and patiently.

I met Dr. Gibbs and immediately my husband and I both felt relieved with my decision. My husband said boy he is really sure of himself which is exactly what I wanted in a surgeon. He cares alot and you can tell by the questions and responses he gives.

I would recommend him to anyone and will make sure all my follow up is done by Dr. Gibbs. I loved him! Totally awesome!

I HAVE NOT MET DR. LUTTRELL YET, ALL I HAVE READ AND HEARD ABOUT HIM IS REALLY GOOD, HIS OFFICE STAFF IS WONDERFUL AND RETURN THE CALL PROMPTLY. MEI IS VERY NICE AND INFORMATIVE. 3/24/03 WELL DR. LUTTRELL HAD TO TAKE PERSONAL LEAVE??? SO I AM NOW GOING TO BE USING DR. MARK GIBBS, HAVE HEARD ALOT OF GOOD THINGS ABOUT HIM ...I HOPE SO...

I met Dr. Gibbs on 3/14/03 at his seminar. I thought he was great! He was very nice and caring towards the group of participants. He believed in education and provided excellent slides, examples, stories, and his surgery statistics. I was excited before the visit but did have some hesitations. After visiting with him and receiving some excellent information, I have no worries. He is honest and upfront. He tells it like it is - it's for our own good. The staff was very nice and answered all of our questions. I did notice that his nurse was a bit overwhelmed with the number of patients and things are time consuming. Since I am a self pay patient they should let me know sometime next week when I am sched. for surgery. That is very exciting. Since I am traveling from out of town they will let me do my pre-op, consult, etc. the day before surgery to avoid making another trip. It was nice to know that Dr. Gibbs and the staff were truly concerned for their patients. I'm looking forward to moving forward. The sooner the better.

Dr Gibbs strikes me as a caring and understanding person. He lets it be known at the start that he belives that being obese is not just a matter of lack of will power, that a lot of it is simply heredity and not our fault.
As the seminar progressed, I realized that this man is a perfectionist, and that gives me a great amount of comfort. He explained why he will not do certain types of surgery, mainly because they don't work, and he doesn't belive in putting someone through surgery that does not have a high success rate, or too many side effects.
He answered questions directly and honestly and gave as much information as possible in a way that was understandable.
His staff seemed very professional and caring, and answered many quesions about the financial end of things very well.
Both my husband and I feel comfortable putting my life in this man's hands, and look forward to the difference we hope this will make in my life.

I have seen several surgeons before deciding on one in particular. I am traveling from Dallas to Little Rock to have this surgery with Dr. Gibbs. I went to the seminar and was very impressed by the surgeon AND his staff. I have a friend that is a physician in Little Rock and have met several people that have been through the surgery with him.

Dr. Gibbs emphasizes aftercare and I am very comfortable with that. I actually saw one surgeon who does not believe in aftercare or support groups.

Dr. Gibbs is very up front and straightforward with you regarding the risks and precautions to take afterwards, particularly during the healing phases.

I really liked dr Gibbs he and the staff at hiss office is great. He lets you know how it is and if you have any questions he'll awnser them so you undestand over all i think he is a wonderful doc.

I LIKE HIM VERY MUCH, HE TOLD ME WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE A LOT OF HARD WORK ON MY PART. THE ONLY THING NEGATIVE I CAN SAY ABOUT HIM AND HIS STAFF, IS ALL THEY DID WAS CALL MY INSURANCE CO, AND GOT A DENIAL, AND THE ONLY THING THEY HAD TO OFFER WAS TO TAKE OUT A LOAN. WELL I CAN'T DO THAT I WOULD IF I COULD. BUT NO WAY CAN I PAY THAT KIND OF MONEY BACK. I BARELY HAVE ENOUGH TO LIVE ON NOW.

I THOUGHT HE WAS VERY UNDERSTANDING, AND CONSIDERED MY FEELINGS AND HOW I FELT. I REALLY FELT HE WANTED TO HELP ME, HIS STAFF WAS REALLY POLITE AND THOUGHTFUL.
HIS SEMINAIR WAS VERY HELPFUL IN MAKEING ME UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND WHAT TO EXPECT. I DID NOT THINK MY INSURANCE COMPANY WOULD BE THE REASON I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE THIS SURGERY. I HAVE BEEN PREPARING MYSELF FOR WHAT I WOULD HAVE TO DO TO MAKE THIS WORK. I DO FEEL IT IS MY ONLY HOPE FOR A LONGER AND BETTER LIFE. A WHEEL CHAIR IS NOT AN EXCEPTIONAL OPTION FOR ME, I AM WILL AND READY TO DO AND WORK AS HARD AS I HAVE TO IF GIVEN THE CHANCE TO HAVE THIS SURGERY

I WOULD RECOMMEND DR. GIBBS AND HIS STAFF TO ANYONE.

2/8/03: I had open RNY by Dr Gibbs on 1-15-03. I only have positive things to say about Dr Gibbs and Carrie, his nurse. I was self pay and did not meet Dr Gibbs until the day before my surgery when I flew out from Philadelphia to Little Rock. I had asked him several questions in advance through Carrie and I had completed questionnaires. I did a lot of research on Dr Gibbs and the surgery in advance including contacting several former patients and felt confident in him. When I met him the confidence only solidified. He put all my last minute worries to rest. I have a beautiful scar.. it is thin and healing great. Carrie is very responsive with all my questions. She always returns calls the same day.

12/02
Having surgery at Baptist Medical Center on 1/15/03. Would love to hear from someone having surgery same place, same date!

The surgeon I selected, Dr. Mark Gibbs, in Little Rock, AR requires all his potential patients to attend a Gastric Bypass seminar before he will even have the office staff submit for insurance approval.

On Friday, January 31, 2003, I went to the seminar. It lasted about 2 hours. My first impression of Dr. Gibbs was quite good. I was very impressed with his knowledge of the procedure and all the "good, bad, and the ugly", so to speak. He was very upfront about the potential dangers of the surgery, as well as the wonderful things that can happen because of the surgery. He explained everything very well and didn't talk "above our heads", we didn't go to medical school for cyring out loud!!!

I was very impressed that he trained for this type of procedure under Dr. Ozmunt(retired), who had done nearly 9,000 weight loss surgeries.

He seemed to be a very busy person. His pager went off about 5 or 6 times while we were there. He finally took it off and had one of his nurses take care of it for him.

I think for now, the most important quality in a surgeon is his surgical competence rather than his bedside manner. Both are great, but if I had to choose it would be surgical competence. Dr. Gibbs seems to be very confident about his surgical abilities. That makes me feel really, really good. He seems almost "giddy" when he talks about laparoscopic surgery. I got the impression that "lap" is his most favorite kind of surgery.

He told us that he would be more than willing to do lap procedures on any of us as long it was within "capability." Not everyone is able to have lap procedures. He also told us that just because he might start out lap, didn't mean he wouldn't open us up if he felt he needed to. That made me feel really good.

I learned a lot from him in just 2 hours and feel much more at ease about all the questions and concerns I had going in. My husband, Ron, went with me and although he still isn't 100% sure about the whole thing, he left feeling more confident about Dr. Gibbs and the whole procedure.

We didn't talk much with the office staff. His nurse, Carrie, did talk to us about insurance and scheduling the surgery. She seemed pretty nice, but very adamant about us not calling to bug her. We should be calling the insurance company instead. I guess, I understand. She is Dr. Gibbs' only nurse and I sure she's really busy.

Anyway, we had a large group that day, about 20 people. So Carrie, the nurse, told us it would be about 2 - 3 weeks before she got letters out to the insurance companies and surgeries would start being scheduled in April and May. I can't hardly wait. I hope my insurance is cooperative and everything goes smoothly.