Hilario Juarez Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

I was very impressed, he use to only perform gall baldder, and hernia surgery. He noticed alot of the patients comeing in for hernia surgery where over weight. He then checked into surgery's too help overweight people, and found out about the different types. He now only perform the roux,and y laperscopic. This impressed me.At my consultation he made me feel very comfortable, and was cheerful. I didn't have any problem's with his staff, they where very helpful.Dr. Juarez was very imformative too about the risk's that are involved.

I found him very laid back and easy to talk to. My impression of him never changed even after surgery. His office staff was helpful in many ways. What people should know about him is that he is very upfront whith potential patients. He is very strict with aftercare and supports the hospitals bariatric aftercare program. I give him a very high rating. I think both are very important.

Dr. Juarez seems professional and very skilled at what he does. He's not a touchy feely surgeon and just kind of gets right down to business. In my pre-operative meeting with him he did spend a lot of time with me and answered all of my questions. He has a huge patient load and therefore his time is very limited. I saw him once before surgery for about 1 min and once after surgery for another 1 min. I saw his assistant another day for about 5 min after surgery. The Dr.'s front office staff is lacking and you have to continually nag them for things. I had some questions about pre-operative testing and called 3 times and never did get an answer. Again, I'm sure that this is all a part of doing business as we do today, Dr.'s being overloaded with patients and in my case, my HMO insurance co only provided a few dr's to choose from..again causing them to overload with patients.

Dr Juarez is easy to deal with and a great dr i had no problems with him or his staff
overall i give him a 9 out of 10 and for me thats awsome i hate doctors usually
the only bad thing is he is so busy it takes forever to get to see him or to get a surgury date set up

My first impression of Dr. Juarez was that he was very quiet and seemed to know alot about what he was skilled in. He seemed very knowledgable and experienced. He stepped in a one of his seminars to answer questions, although he was very busy he took the time to answer everyones questions. Over time my imperssion of him just grew stronger and i was certian he was a great and skilled suregon. I wasn't looking for someone to hold my hand I would rather that he was good at what he was doing. The least i liked about him was really nothing. Future patients should know that he is a VERY VERY busy doctor and the reason is he is very good. It does take time to get a appointment to see him. I made a appt. and it took 6 months to get in and then i didn't see him i saw his partner. I got the surgery approved after 1 week his office knows exactly what the insurance needs to get it approved. I had to wait another 6 months after that to get the actuall surgery. They emphasize alot on after care and offer these great classes to teach you aoubt the life change experience. It is great to have the classes. They explained the risks of surgery and answered questions. I rate him a 10 surgeon! He is very busy and he does have a bedside manner and infact i made him laugh every time i saw him. He listens and answers questions for you. His surgical skills are great and he is a good doctor, I highley recomend him, and i am thankful i had this done and was lucky to have him as a surgeon.

The worst part was the hospital, the experience was horrible for myself and my roomate. The nurses are nasty and act like you are a inconvenience to them. They leave you alone to much and say they are coming back right away and don't for hours. I waited for more morphine in the pump for 2 hours. We were left waiting to go to the bathroom for a hour and pain meds the same.

Although I've only met Dr. Juarez twice, once during his seminar and my initial office visit, I feel comfortable with his surgeon skills. He's very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. If you're looking for one on one personal touch Dr. Juarez may not be the one for you. He is very much in demand and it amazes me how many surgeries he performs. Everyone that I have spoken with who had WLS performed by Dr. Juarez has had nothing but high praises for his skills. My PCP also has had three patients who have had the WLS performed by Dr. Juarez and were very pleased with the outcome.

His staff on the other hand has a lot to be desired. If you speak to anyone who has gone through the journey already with Dr. Juarez, the primary complaint will likely be the quality of service rendered by his staff. My personal experience has been lack of explanation of what is needed as well as not returning calls in a timely manner. Recently when I encountered a lapse in protocol for "pre-determination" it was brought to my attention that some staff changes had occured and it appears to be for the better. I would just say stay on top of your paperwork and make sure you have all your ducks in a row.

I'm having my WLS done at St. Luke's and I must say I'm very pleased with the amount of information and resources that have been and will be provided. My girlfriend recently had WLS (Jan. 2004) at Good Sam and she didn't receive half the information that I did. She often uses the information that I got in my education classes and preop workshop. Good Sam hasn't had their program too long and apparently aren't up to standard on the education process.

I'll update this and let you know how everything goes after my surgery and what type of aftercare I receive.

I have seen Dr. Juarez only twice. Once, during the original group seminar in Jan 2003, and second, during my original consultation with him in April 2003. He seemed matter of fact, answered my questions with directness and openness. I have heard good reports of his expertise in the area of bariatric surgery.

I really liked Dr. Juarez when I saw him at his seminar. He was funny and sarcastic like myself. I could see how others might react to him differently. When I met him and his PA at his office I found them both to be very knowledgeable and able to answer all my questions. I am most confident with the fact that he has performed many, many of these surgeries. I have to drive close to two hours to see him and there are now physicians in Tucson who are doing this surgery, but they just are starting out and I don't want to be a practice patient. As far as aftercare, it appears I will probably be on my own since I live so far away from St. Lukes. There are some support groups in Tucson that I can join.
His office staff was courteous and helpful. I was surprised because I haven't read a whole lot of positive things about them. The day of my appointment the office didn't seem to be very busy. My contact person has been Beth and she has been good so far about returning calls. I believe you have to be very proactive in this situation and find out exactly what it is you need to do in order to get things taken care of. I can see how one could easily get lost in 100's of patients Dr. Juarez is seeing these days. Keep on the staff and make sure they know you're not one to sit around and wait for answers.

As most people have mentioned about Dr. Juarez, I had the same first impression about him as they did. He doesn't have a great bedside manner, of course, I don't know about everybody else, however, I wasn't looking for a surgeon who could win a personality contest, I wanted a surgeon who had a great reputation doing the type of surgery I needed to have done. Dr. Juarez is that surgeon. Thanks Dr. Juarez, you have helped save my life.

I thought that Dr. Jaurez's office staff were just great. I've never had a problem with any of them. They are almost always very friendly and they have always taken good care of me and my needs, in the past.

If you are looking for a surgeon with a winning personality you should probably try and find someone else, however if you are more concerned about the professionality and precission of the person with their surgical tools or hands messing around inside of you, then Dr. Juarez is one of the best.

Dr. Juarez and his staff seem to have, what I would guess is the typical care and concern you would need to have for aftercare and the importance of it for you.

Dr. Juarez did, of course, address the risks of the surgery with me and my support person in detail. In fact because of my past history of Pulmonary Emoli (Blood Clots), he was very concerned about making sure I was very knowledgable about the risks of having surgery were.

As far as his surgical professionality and abbilities as a surgeon I would rate him as a 10. I don't think I need to rate anything else because that is what I needed him for and he accomplished it for me, and then some.

Of course, surgical competence is deffinetly the most important and it would be even better if he had a great bedside manner, however, I didn't think that his bedside manner was that bad, in the first place and secondly, I don't really care if it isn't that great. I'm just thankfull I'm still in one piece and I'm feeling pretty great about the difference he helped me make in my life. I can only imagine what I'm going to feel like when I make my goal weight.

Thanks Dr. J!

While I am extremely happy with my surgery outcome, Dr. Juarez is extremely overloaded with patients and does not spend more than a few minutes with you at any given time. You feel rushed through each exchange and he does little to no teaching on what to expect. He does give a seminar prior to taking you on as a patient in which he is very thorough in explaining the procedure and risks. He does offer support groups for aftercare but does not personally attend these of offer any aftercare teaching. He sticks to the surgical part of it and leaves the rest to his staff. This is not necessarily a bad thing but may make some patients who are not very self-directed feel a little lost and unprepared. The surgery itself went very smoothly, and I am very pleased with how little pain I experienced. I was up out of bed right out of recovery. I was in the minimal number of days in the hospital. I have had a lot of energy from day one and very little problems. My incisions are minor (laparoscopic) and healed very rapidly without complication. Dr. Juarez' skill as a surgeon is superb and I feel very comfortable with my decision in choosing him for my surgery.