David Drinkwater Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

I first saw Dr Drinkwater at an information seminar. I had a list of questions to ask but all of them wereanswered, complication rates, how he assesses for surgery, what is required before surgery can occur etc. He was pleasant & easy to listen to. I met him the following week with my husband for an initial consultation & he was great. He wanted to be sure that my family was supportive & told me I was a good candidate & authorized the nutrition visit that started me on my journey. I have a ways to go before we meet again but I know I can cal his office & Jen will answer my concnerns & they are very encouraging. I look forward to working with him further & trust his abilities as well as his compassion.

I like Dr Drinkwater. He is professional and very smart. He also has a sense of humor. Very soft spoken humor, but he does smile. He remembered me from our first appointment at an orientation I went to.
After care is very important to him and his staff is the best. I have heard lots of hooror stories from other people about their surgeons office. But Dr Drinkwater and staff are top notch! Jen, his coordinator is a God send and super organized. He does talk about risks and makes no banoes about it. I give him and his staff a 10.
God Bless them all!

I liked Dr. Drinkwater immediately. One thing I look for in doctors upon meeting them, is their confidence. He was definitely confident! He was thorough and explained the surgery in great detail. He gave a presentation to the group and I admired his knowledge. He actually founded the Obesity Center in Nashua, N.H. and received all of his training in Boston. I have total confidence in him so far.

His office staff, Jenn, is wonderful. She is the program coordinator. When I say she is great, I mean she is FABULOUS. What an organized, sweet person. She keeps you posted on all meetings and classes that take place. She returns all calls and is so kind.

What I love best about Dr. Drinkwater's program is the way it is set up. It is very structured, and I love that. It makes me feel safe. I wouldn't want to get surgery done by a doctor who doesn't require all of these things. Sure, it takes time and I know people want the surgery NOW, but I have enjoyed the process. It has given me time to think and research.

Dr. Drinkwater has a team of people who work with every pre-op. The team consists of the surgeon (Dr. Drinkwater), the dietician, the psychiatrist and Jenn.

This is the way Dr. Drinkwater does this program:

When you first call to inquire about the surgery, they mail you out a patient assessment. After you complete it and send it back, they contact you for an appointment with Dr. Drinkwater. You then attend a patient seminar the same day.

You have to attend at least 2 support group meetings. They have, I believe, at least 2 a month.

You then will be contacted to meet with the dietician who develops a plan for you and reviews your current way of eating. Also, you are informed by the dietician as to how much weight you need to lose prior to surgery (in my case it is 20 lbs).

You meet with the nutricianist every month to check your progress and talk about any dietary concerns.

During this time, you attend (4) 2 hour classes with a psychologist. They are skills classes and are very useful. You also get to meet other pre-ops, which is great.

When you have made steady progress in terms of your weight loss, the nutricianist schedules an appointment with the psyciatrist.

The psych. mails you out an in-depth questionaire which you complete and bring with you the day of your evaluation with him. It is great, because the psychiatrist works on the bariatrics team and is familiar with WLS. So you don't have to worry if he is against the surgery as a whole. Whether or not it is right for you is another story, but he is open minded about the surgery, as this is a big part of his overall job.

Once a month, the "team" meets to discuss the pre-ops and where they are in the process. From what I have observed, once you show consistent weight loss towards your required loss, and you have attended the skills classes and support groups, your name will be on the roster for discussion.

Dr. Drinkwater will decide if you have met all of the criteria. At this point, you get a date to meet with him again to discuss the surgery in more detail. They then submit it to insurance and you get a date.

I have heard the after care that Dr. Drinkwater provides is excellent. I have met many post-ops that had Dr. Drinkwater and they all love him. They follow you very closely throughout the first year and will always be in your life thereafter. They care about their patients and it is obvious.

I would give Dr. Drinkwater and his staff a 10. I have no complaints at all. I don't mind having to lose weight before, because as they explain, it shows a commitment to the program and to yourself.

When i first met Dr. Drinkwater, i was a bit surprised by how his compassion came out in the way he talks to you. I have been treated like a object of disdain by quite a few doctors so it was nice to be treated like this was not all my lack of self control. Jen, his assistant is kind and caring and there to answer any questions you could possibly have. Since I am pretty well informed about WLS he didnt really take the time to go over things with me as he might someone who was just learning. I feel that the journey I am beginning with Dr. Drinkwater will be a long and fruitful one. I am excited by his knowledge, his attention to detail and i really like his staff and from the information I am getting i think his aftercare program will be great.

After surgery i have been even more impressed. I love this doctor and would recommend him to anyone. In fact he is doing my sons hernia repair.

I went through the surgery in David Drinkwater's program in Nashua. I give Jen, the administrator, very high marks. She is always friendly and helpful and is a whiz with the insurance companies.

I give Susan, the nutritionist, high marks too. She listens and is creative in helping you out.

After that, my story gets bleak. I had the surgery on October 18th. I was released a day early. I went home feeling very sick. I felt more and more sick as the day went on. Finally I felt so sick I knew I had to drive back from Portsmouth to Nashua in the middle of the night. I had a bowel blockage and was rushed into surgery. So, I woke up with an additional 5 inches or so on my scar.

To make matters worse, the nursing care went from fabulous to horrible. I actually had nurses that were good tell me when I ought to have family members spend the night....in other words, my care might not be so great that night.

Then I spotted a part of my incision that did not look right. I asked Dr. Drinkwater about it but he decided to wait. The next day I was checked by another surgeon covering for him. She immediately diagnosed a wound infection and opened me up again. The wound infection did not heal well despite help from the VNA in home bandage changing. I finally got worried enough to have the wound checked by another surgeon.

Now I have to have another operation to open it up again so it can heal. And treatments at my LOCAL wound center.

I don't blame the staff there totally, but I don't hold them blameless either. I am glad I advocated for myself and got another opinion from another surgeon though.

I am getting follow up care in another center now. I just want people to know that they MUST advocate for themselves, they must research, and they must have good home support.

Good luck everyone.

Well, I have only met him once and that wasn't even for me. He did a hernia operation on my dad a couple of months ago. But, I have complete faith in his abilities because my sister works with him in the operating room-she's his right hand nurse if you will.-
I'm feeling a little frustrated with his staff how ever. I have called many times and have heard nothing back from them. It’s almost like pulling teeth to make contact. I already have my info packet and heath forms filled out now I just need to meet with him.

I found that if I used e-mail I got much better results. I wrote an e-mail at night before I went to bed and I had an e-mail back when I woke up.

Dr Drinkwater appears to be very competent and knowledgeable. He is very reassuring, yet he made sure I was aware of all possible complications. He acts as a great cheerleader. His office staff is fantastic. I was having a lot of trouble with my insurance company and they encouraged me every step of the way. They put a lot of effort into getting the approval. Aftercare is highly stressed and the aftercare program is highly structured. I trust him and I think that is what is most important overall.

I met with Dr. Drinkwater in a presentation on December 5, 2002.
He was very professional and friendly. He explained in as much detail as he possibly could about pre-op and post-op expections of the patient and the importance of them. He did stress the post-op importance of following the recommendations and he also spoke of the risks of surgery and he made the point that once you have this surgery you can not turn around and change it. Also Dr. Drinkwater described the open RNY and the laprascopic procedure stating that this was decided depending on certain criteria of the patient and determined by the surgeon.
All in all it was a very informative session and each patient got to talk with him after in private.The office staff is awesome. Jennifer is very friendly and willing to help in any way she can. I feel everything was covered and was confident that this program was for me. I am off to the nutrionist on Jan 6.

My first impression of Dr. Drinkwater at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center was extremely positive. He seems very caring and highly motivated in the bariatric field. He takes the time to personally do a complete information session explaining the surgery using a powerpoint presentation. It covered everything from statistics to stoma size. It was very informative. He encouraged and was more than happy to answer any and all questions during and after. He completely explained the positives as well as the negatives of the surgery.

Strong emphasis was put on aftercare. Blood work was stressed and re-stressed, the need to make life long changes and take vitamin supplements was also repeated several times.

Being pre-op, I can only answer the questions that pertain to date. However, I will do my best to keep my evaluation updated.

So far the office staff has been great. I haven't had to do much at all. Everyone has been very accomodating. Phone calls are returned, email are promptly answered and questions are always answered.

I have evaluated several programs and this one is the BEST! Great Doctor, staff and program. What more can you ask for?

Next appointment is the nutritionist and I will share all of my updated opinions as I make them. So far so good...great!