Hilario Juarez Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

he a great surgeon

I had Dr. Juarez from the very start of this process almost 4 years ago. I moved to another city where there was a surgeon who was closer so I chose to go with him. BIIIIGGGG mistake. He and his staff soaked me for $500.00 and then the insurance company wouldn't accept the claim with him. I am now back with Dr. Juarez where I should have been from the very get-go. He has a wonderful bedside manner and I think he is extremely experienced.

I have only met Dr. Juarez the first time I went to his office and I found him to be professional yet had a great way of making you feel comfortable conversing with him.
So far I have only delt with Cindy who does the authorization's for Blue Cross and she has to be the most patient person in the world. She was wonderful in helping me understand all that was needed to obtain my authorization.

My first impression of Dr. Juarez was that i liked him and had confidnce in him. I had spoke to serveral others who had there surgery from him and they all spoke highly of him and his team.
He has a great bedside manner and the whole staff was great. I would recomed him to any one.

Dr. Juarez appears to be a no nonsense type of guy. Reality what a concept! Knowing this in advance will help you feel at ease. He seems to have his program in order. His office staff is excellent so far.

I found Dr. Juarez to be very personable and easy to talk to. Both he and his PA went over everything with me and answered any questions I had. I feel very comfortable that he is an excellent surgeon. So far his staff seems very nice and competent. I just had my consult on 5/13 so I am still in the
"obtaining approval" stage. I have been working with The Bridges Center at St. Luke's and they seem to have an excellent pre and post op program. I'll let you know more as I go through the process.

I found Dr Juarez to be staight forward,although a joker at times my first impression was ( did he just say that)he is a very out spoken man I can't say that there was anything I did not like about him. The staff seems to be busy but polite be ready for him to also ask you questions like how did you get to be so big : ) Not sure on the aftercare I have only met for my conslt we didnt get into that When I met with Dr Juarez we did not talk about the Risks . I met with His assistant who answered all my questions I found him to be very friendly and knowledgable he explained what I should expect after the surgery and what type of vitamins I should begin taking and how to prepare myself now for the surgery and that I should start walking. I would rate them both a 9 only because I felt that with the surgery that I am trying to have the Dr's has to be upfront with everything. I think that both Surgial Competence and Bed side manner appear to be good Conslt date 8/31 waiting on approval from insurance Update surgery scheduled for 12/08/2004 Moved up to Nov 29th yikes !!!

Very busy. Very quick. Friendly.

I believe he cares, but is far too busy to give more personal care.

His office staff was very friendly.

I would have liked to have more personal attention time.

He's very direct and to the point. He will answer most of your questions, but rushed.

He only emphasized aftercare up to a certain point.

However, St. Lukes Hospital offers an extensive aftercare program, but I live in Tucson!

He addresses the risks of surgery really well. Matter of fact, I was scheduled for surgery on an earlier date but was cancelled due to bronchitis. His medical team did try thier very best to get me to surgery but ultimately he decided it wasn't safe enough. I was scheduled a month and four days later.

I give him a rating of "very good" in
Surgical competence.

About two years ago I heard him speak at a WLS seminar he hosted and thought he sounded good and competent. His staff has been very good about submission of paperwork, first I was refused by BC/BS of AZ, then I changed to Arizona Foundation and got approved in one day. The office was good about re-submission of paperwork. I've had a lot of health issues, probably why I needed the surgery so bad, and I had to postpone surgery twice, once for open heart surgery and once for a dental abcess, and his office was really kind about the changes.
He works with several PA's and much of my contact has been with them, but they all seem very competent.

My surgery went off without a hitch. I did develop an abcess at one of the laproscopic sites about 5 weeks after surgery, but I'm very prone toward infections. I have found his office to be very responsive to aftercare problems. He didn't sit down and hold my hand through-out, but I have friends for that and he's way to busy to buddy up, but I believe he is a talented surgeon and feel very confident in his ability. He covered the risk of surgery well and I would give him a thumbs up.

His psychiatric support on the other hand...I'm 57, quit smoking 2 yrs ago after 40 some years, am in very bad health and they sent me to behavior modification, which held up my surgery over 6 months and it would have been longer if I hadn't swiched psychotherapists mid-stream. In fact I believe the delay could have proved deadly. They seem to think I had some problems with impulse control when it came to food. I really wonder why I would be seeking WLS if I didn't have problems with impulse control and food.

Now I know they have standardized tests and I'm sure mine must have lit a red light on someone's desk, but I believe they never looked at the entire situation, expecially my dedication to quiting smoking and my rapidly deterioting health. I believe if they had taken the time to review my status they would/could have concluded otherwise. They were extremely hung up on success ratio of their patients, which can be a good thing, but when that end overides individual health issues . . . I personally felt very compromised by there assessment and subsequent delays. My advise, do your shopping for psychiatric approval elsewhere.

He was very pleasant and answered all of my questions completely.

The best part is that he looked me right in the eyes and I felt he was very truthful when I was asking him about other of his cases that had problems.

He smiled at me a few times which made me feel like a real person not just a number.

All in all a good experience for a pre-op meeting.

His staff has been awesome including the surgery scheduler and my case manager.

They do have a structured aftercare program, and plus I will continue to see a psychotherapist, Dr. Lolette Pisoni, on my own to help me deal with everything.

I think surgical competance is the most important, but when they have that and bedside manner, that's the best!