James Weber Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

I met Dr. Webber in late July at one of his informational seminars. I went there with 4 typed pages of questions, and he was so thorough that he answered just about all of them. I was quite impressed. I also went there convinced I wanted the RNY (but had some reservations still) and came away having changed to the VBG, and my questions/reservations addressed at the seminar. I then met with him on 9/26/00 for my consultation. We discussed his expectations and the most difficult part for me will be the committment to exercise 7 days a week. But, he is very strict on that and the fact that you stay with total liquids for the full 8 weeks. He did say both RNY and VBG would work for me, but the RNY is more drastic etc. I agreed, from all the research I have done on both types of surgery. I am very impressed with his staff, Pam, Lisa and Mary. They are all very helpful and knowledgeable and you never feel rushed. They always take the time to answer your questions. I feel very comfortable with him. I still have the nutritional and psych eval to go through, and of course the approval of my insurance carrier. Once that is taken care of, then a date will be set. I would recommend him very much at this point. I really don't have any thing negative to say at this point. Over all, on a scale of 1-10, I would rate him and his staff at an 8+; after all, no one is totally perfect, right! Just darn close. :) Here is an update. I continued my research and now have opted to have the RNY again, as I had originally thought I would. Surgery date is set for 3/2/01. Very anxious and excited to be on the road to a new me, or actually to find the very old me I had one time before. Happy, Healthy, and able to live life to the fullest again. Can't wait.

I was very impressed with Dr. Weber and his staff, they handled things effeciently and quickly. I am scheduled for surgery on 2/20/01 so will be able to say more after I have the surgery.

He is a real person. Cares very much about the people he helps. My impression has improved as I have gotten to know him. He is VERY accessable to his patients.
I would tell future patients to do their home work. He likes the VBG and will lean toward that direction unless you know EXACTLY what you want.
His after care program is pretty good. He wants to see you on a VERY regular basis.
He is VERY up front about the risks of this surgery. His "thing" WAS, chewing gum. He will ask you if you chew gum. If you say yes he will suggest that you attend behavior modification classes. He says that he doesn't want to have to go in and fish out a piece of gum that you have swallowed.
His surgical competence is AWESOME! and his bedside manner is equally as great.
Over all I would rate him as one of the best!
He and I disagree about what exercise I have been doing. Because of knee problems I don't exercise as much as he wants and he isn't real sympathetic about this. I need total joint replacements in both knees, so exercise is a difficult subject with me.

2/2/01 He really got at me for waiting so long to call him when I thought I had disrupted. I did call him and he waisted no time in calling me back and getting me in to be seen. He would have scheduled my revision for earlier in Feb. but his schedule and mine just weren't co-operating. He agreed to all that I requested for this revision. And even put it in writing. He is still a character. And I am sure he is still one of the best.

I REALLY LIKED DR.WEBER AND HIS STAFF.

I have not met Dr. Weber yet but I will on Nov.13, 2000 at 3:30pm. I spoke with an assistant on the phone named Lisa and she was very helpful with information. I can't wait to meet the both of them. i met with dr. weber at my first consultation and he got straight to the point about what he expects from me to get the best results. it is very honest and sincere. my husband and 10 month old came along and he answered all of my husbands questions satisfactory so my husband also beleives that i made the right choice in choosing dr. weber as my surgeon. since this is major surgery, you dont just want anyone operating on you and from our visit with dr. weber, we have great confidence in him. whatever you do, dont chew gum! if its already a habit i hope you dont have a habit in swallowing it because dr. weber will have something ery informative to tell you if you plan to have the surgery. he specifically went over the risks of the surgery. he didnt make it seem at all that he just wanted to get the money from another patient. he clearly lets you know that this is a big lifestyle change.there are risk with any kind of surgery but we as a people always take risk on a daily basis. i right now take a risk of dying because of all the weight on me so i would rather take my chances to improve my situation thatn for it to get worst by not doing anything about it. as you may know, when you are obese, taking a jog can just about cause a heart attack or maybe just even walking at a fast pace. so,i stand at my conclusion, the surgery for me is my best option. dr. weber made me feel so comfortable like he could relate to the pain that i go through everyday, even though he doesnt look like he will ever have a weight problem. i am awaiting my surgery date of feb. 2nd. at that time, i will update those of you that care about my experience with the surgery and aftercare. good luck everyone.

I met Dr. Weber for the first time at an inservice he requires all potential gastric patients to attend. I was surprised that he didn't charge a fee like all the other offices I called. Liked him a lot! Friendly, easy going manner. Takes time to explain every thing thoroughly. I never felt that he rushed anyone. He answered all the questions that people asked of him. I liked his approach and the fact that he has a good follow up program to help his patients be successful. He's been doing the surgery for twenty years and I liked that their office isn't a gastric clinic but a small practice.
I spoke with Pam his front office person, I can't really call her just a receptionist since she handles all the front end duties, including the insurance authorizations. She was really nice and informative. I liked her a lot and was confident with her insurance processing knowledge. She let me know upfront about the phone situation in the office. They only have two incoming lines! Plus there is another doctor in the office that has a solo practice but doesn't do gastric. She has to work at keeping the phone lines open to get emergent calls from other doctors, schedule appts and get insurance authorizations. She said insurance companies can keep you on hold for 20 min or more tying up a line only for her to have to pick up the other ringing line, then when she switches back they're gone, because they came on when she was on the other line with a patient. Gave me a whole knew perspective on what it's like for her in try to keep the lines open and yet get the surgery authorizations done. WOW! I was glad she shared that information with me. I'll be limiting my calls unless they are absolutely necessary. She said when she has time she loves getting to know the patients and I was impressed by her sincerity.
I'm looking forward to meeting Lisa and having my surgery with Dr. Weber.

I have finished the required psych evaluation with Dr. Vic Hayes, and it went incredibly well! I really liked him, and he made the evaluation almost painless! Now he will write his recommendation to Dr. Weber who will decide whether or not he will accept me as a patient. If he does, it is then on to me insurance company, where I'm PRAYING for approval. I have only met with him once, but feel that he is the most competent surgeon to do the surgery. Have heard nothing but GREAT things about him overall.

Lisa, his nurse, is the best person he has in the front office. She not only is very patient in answering questions, but always does so in a very cheerful and helpful manner.

My first appointment with Dr. Weber was on a Friday, I was the last person in, and while I was filling out paper work, he came out and said 'you can do that later, lets go talk" I was kinda suprised, the nurse usally has to call you, then you wait for about an hou, then the Dr. comes in. He is the sweetest man, although it seems that he had a stressful day, (needed to go running)We talked about what surgery would be best for me and since he has no bad standing with the WSMA, I trusted his judgement. RNY. Here we go! we talked about the plus and minus of the surgeries that he does: RNY and VBG. I am a sweet eater and the RNY will do me just fine. I then met with Pam to finish my paper work. She was a dream! Dr. Weber was very interested in what would work best for me and I apprecite that. This is a MAJOR SURGERY and you need to know all of your options. I liked him because he was so real...not in it for the money, he really cared about me and made it a point that whenever I had a question, to call. Lisa is Dr.Webers (5th daughter) she has been working for him since she was 11 LOL :) she is the greatest person to call! whenever I do call I say "Hi, this is Julie, not trying to be a bother" and she will just go into her day, answear all of my questions and make me feel great! He made me promise that I would give him 7 days of excersize! I have not done that in 7 years!!! LOL I really feel good with my choice and can not wait to have my surgery 3-16-01 :) Dr. Weber is a 20 in my book!

I haven't yet met him. My first appt. is tomorrow 12-11-00 at 3pm. Wish me luck!!

DR. WEBER IS A GOD SEND! HE IS HONEST, STRAIGHT FORWARD AND IS JUST AS KIND! FROM MY FIRST MEETING WITH HIM, I KNEW HE WAS THE DOC FOR ME! HIS MEDICAL ASSISTANT LISA IS AN ANGEL~MY VERY OWN ANGEL!!! HIS OFFICE IS VERY SMALL AND PERSONAL. VERY BUSY TOO!
DR. WEBER GAVE ME ALL THE TOOLS TO HELP ME MAKE MY DECISSION REGARDING WLS.

IF I WERE TO SAY I HAD ANY NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE WITH DR. WEBERS STAFF, IT WOULD BE THAT THE RECEPTIONIST SEEMS LIKE SHE IS VERY BUSY ALL THE TIME, AND IF SOMEONE TAKES THINGS VERY PERSONALLY,THEY MAY FEEL SHE IS RUDE. BUT PLEASE DONT LET THIS DETOUR FROM GOING TO HIS OFFICE!!
ALL IN ALL, I AM VERY PLEASED AND GRATEFUL FOR DR. WEBER AND HIS STAFF.