Joseph Caruana Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

I found Dr.Caruana very friendly.He answered my husbands questions,and put him at ease a bit,as he is scared for me having this surgery.Dr Caruanas staff were very pleasant to deal with.I called a few times on the phone,and my calls were handeled efficiently.He has a new Gym on his office premises,for his patients to use.

Once you get to know Dr. Caruana, you will find him very personalble. He is very encouraging and helpful. He is very strong about aftercare. He has moved into his new office, complete with gym and physical fitness equipment.
He carefully goes through the surgery and states what risks you might encounter. I did have some complications, following surgery, and Dr. Caruana was right there, monitoring my care and following it up with office visits.

I knew Dr. Caruana before I decided to have surgery. We work at the same hospital. Before he switched his practice to strictly bariatric surgery, he did surgery on my father & brother. I was always impressed by his surgical skill & especially his kindness & compassion with his patients & their families.

For my first consultation I had a full sheet of paper with questions on it from all my research. After he asked me what I knew about the surgery, he said why I don't I tell you about it & then any questions you have I will answer. He was very honest, from the number of surgeries he had done to his complication rate (well below the national avg). He was so thorough that I think I only had one question left to ask him from my whole page of questions. He explained at length the surgical risks & life style changes necessary post-op.

My gratitude & respect for him has only grown since the surgery. He is truly committed to his patients.

His office staff is great! Very helpful, concerned & empathetic. They do whatever it takes to simplify the process.

Marc, his PA is also excellent. His office has a workout center, Synergy, which is top notch.

Looking back, for me personally, I would have preferred to have a more structured post-op diet initially, maybe that comes from a life time of "dieting". There is a lot of information out there regarding nutrition & a lot of it was in conflict with what I learned in my pre-op nutrition classes (Dr. Caruana requires you to attend two nutrition & two exercise classes pre-op.)

All in all, Dr. Caruana & his staff are competent, caring professionals who I would highly recommend.

I attended the required informational meeting before my physical exam with Dr.C. It was very enlightning. After my exam, the Dr sat down with me and my husdband one on one and went over our immediate questions or concerns. I also love Dee Dee at the front desk. So far, so good. (Their brand new ofice is beautiful!)

Went to my informational meeting on Dec 16th. I liked Dr. Caruana from the moment he started to speak. He was very professional and he also put everyone at ease with some of his comments. I was able to get an appt date right away because I had my IH referral before going to the meeting. I have a pschyoligical eval on the 20th of Jan, and then I see Dr. Caruana on the 28th. I count the days. I am very anxious to get this whole thing rolling.

Dr. Joseph Caruana was a caring surgeon, who takes his time with you and will answer any questions you may have. The more questions I had the more he seem to get involved with me. The staff at his office is caring, and very friendly, they don't just look at you as being over weight, but as a person who needs help, and understanding. I guess there really isn't anything that I didn't like about him. They should know that Dr. Joseph Caruana, isn't just a dr. who forgets about you after surgery, he really wants to be there after, at his office, he also has a fittness center, were you can excrise, and get the advise of a professional about what excrise will help you tone, and lose. Dr. Caruana goes over all the risks and he also gives you information to read, he has several meetings before hand to let us know what we should expect from the surgery (from start to finish!!!) He is an excellent dr. I can say that my surgical experience was good, and the bedside manner was good. Dr. Caruana, knew I was afraid, and he helped me threw it, along with all the nurses. I'm so glad that I made the choice to have the surgery, and I'm getting great results.

I attended the November informational meeting. It was a good overview of the whole process. I really enjoyed it. Lots of good question and answer time. I got my consultation appt. for the following week.
Had my consultation. Mark did my exam, he was wonderful. Very kind and caring. Spoke with Dr. Caruana afterwards. Very professional.

Dr. Caruana was a very friendly person and thorough Physician. I grew to really enjoy seeing him, he was very encouraging and to the point. The staff at his office are very courteous and friendly. i can honestly say there was nothing I didn't like about him. Dr. Caruana generally cares for the people he takes care of and is strict in telling you exactly what you need to do. Future patients should know that he is a wonderful Surgeon and a very caring person. He strongly emphasizes aftercare. Any problems I had or thought I had he was right there to see me. He does have a structured aftercare program. He was very honest about all the risks of the surgery. Everything was told to me right up front. On a scale from 1 to 10 I would actually rate Dr. Caruana higher than a 10. His surgical competence and his bedside manner are both fantastic. This man saved my life and has given me a whole new perspective on life.

UPDATE.....

November 2010 I went to see Dr. Caruana. I had not seen him in 6 years, I did not think I needed to. He discovered my pouch had fissured to my original stomach and I was eating huge amounts of food. He did the proper tests and told me he would like to perform a revision and try to fix the fissure, he also wanted to prepare a hernia. May 2, 2011 I had my next open surgery. Dr. Caruana was able to do a revision with my intestine and fix the hernia. Unfortunately he could not fix the fissure as it would have been a big possibility of nicking my spleen (not a good thing).

May 19, 2011 I went back into surgery with Dr. Pham and Nicole his PA. They worked for 7 1/2 hourson me and were able to complete the procedure laproscopically. I owe much to these people and they gave me three chances at a new life. I am eternall grateful to Dr. Caruana, Dr, Pham and all of their staff.

With my last surgery I was lying in my bed waiting for the anesthesiologist. I knew Dr. Caruana had patients at his office to see that morning and he came to see me before he went to his office. This meant the world to me. He had tried to schedule it so he could be there for the surgery with Dr. Pham but scheduling had gotten rearranged. He asked me if Dr. Pham could do it without him a few days before and I told him if he worked with Dr. Caruana and was respected by Dr. Caruana that was good enough for me.

I honestly cannot say enough about their whole group, they are EXCELLENT!!! They have treated me like family for almost 10 years and I love them all.

I was very impressed by Dr. Caruana, Marc, the office staff and facilities - chairs WITHOUT arms, large cuff blood pressure monitor, everything scaled for the larger patient. No humiliation of something not fitting. Marc examined me and then I had a consultation with Dr. Caruana. All my questions were answered completely; I never felt rushed in any way. We discussed all aspects of surgery including some aftercare questions I had. My husband, who has had some reservations, was with me. He walked away satisfied I was in good hands. I would rate the experience A+. Can't wait to get to that surgery date.

I went to Dr. Caruana's group meeting on 10/21/02. He was very informatitve. I also attend 2 of his support group meetings prior to the group meeting. Every one was very friendly and positive. Had my initial consult on 11/12/02 and am now waiting for my psycological evaluation which is scheduled for 12/04/02. Then I wait for the insurance comapny.