L. Albert Wetter Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

He was a very pleasant man.

10/12/2000

I have been looking into this surgery since March and have now come to the conclussion this is the ONLY option for me. I have a rare disease called Dercum's and this is the only known treatment for it.
I have a wonderful dear loving kind sweet friend her name is Becki and husband who is equally sweet are helping me through each stage because they both have had the surgery. They are members of obesity help.com

It has taken me several months to get my PCP to give me a referal. San Mateo County General Hospital "special clinics" had indeed received my request but Cheryl Perry informed me and I quote "they have NEVER received it." However I had verified this 2 weeks prior to making the appointment Needless to say I had to then get ANOTHER referal from my PCP which I personally picked up and made a copy of it before I will give it to San Mateo County General Hospital in person.
I have an initial appointment October 17th for a consult. I am excited and impatient and hope to receive an approval quickly.

It is now Nov. 23 and i am still waiting. I went to see Dr. Wetter on Oct 17, and it seems he does not take "out of town or out of county" Medi-cal any more. This confuses me as i thought this was a state wide ins. and once you take it you take it. I did not know that they could discriminate like this. I think that he does not want to hassle the paper work, how sad that this could even be a factor. This is what burns me about these doctors, they build their practices on state ins. and then when they have a well established practice they dump the Medi-Cal patients for the bigger bucks. Then they will only take higher paying patients. The county hospitals do the same. It is not as if this country can not afford it, it is that they want to keep the profit margin large. To heck with the people that got us here, let us just make as much money as we can.
Well to make a long story short, Dr. Wetter pushed me off onto his new associate who has never done this surgery before. Needless to say i have huge reservations about this. His statement to me was "how els is he supposed to learn" My answer to that was on someone els, especially since i had a rare disease. I was told that i could not have the surgery any other way. So I met with doctor Baggs and he was nice but did not strike me as confident, and since then he has lost all of my records.
My story does not end here! I have gone to my GYN for some problems i was having and they have found a mass in the pelvic area the size of 14 cm. I have been sent to an oncologist. Through some testing she seems to think that there is only a small chance it is cancer. (i think it is related to my illness.) But none the less I have to have surgery for this. She works at Stanford and tried to get Dr. Vierra to preform the WLS at the same time so i wouldn't have to suffer twice. Dr. Vierra takes Medi-Cal but for some reason not for this surgery. Again i think because of paper work. So now i have to have 2 very invasive and painful surgeries weeks apart. I am feeling pretty hopeless at this point. I am not being dramatic when i say i hope i get the chance to write here again. WLS patients know the risk of heavy people having surgery and now double that. I feel less than and pushed around and scared.

Dr Wetter is very very nice. He was very supportive from the beginnning and didn't make me feel fat, just that he understood that I needed help. His office staff is very helpful, and his scheduling nurse Terry is the BEST! He is very honest about aftercare and sticking to what he and the nutritionist tell me to do.

Update 11/04

I am now 5 days post op. Dr Wetter is a miracle worker and very skilled. I have 6 small incisions, some less than the width of a finger nail. He came and saw me every day and was always very encouraging. I feel very lucky to have found him.

Dr. Wetter was very warm and caring and made me feel so comfortable. He was very thorough in explaining the surgery and answering my questions. His office staff on first impression were very nice Terri his scheduler is very busy but very helpful. The only negitive is that since Dr. Wetter only performs two WLS surgeries a week it will most likely be Jan or Feb before my surgery is scheduled. When you see Dr. Wetter it is best to be very well prepared so do your research since he does require a phsy evaluation and Dr. Schwartz (phsy dr) is very concerned in making sure that you know exactly what it is that you are planning so be sure you know what the pros and cons of this tool are.

Once the intital problems with the surgeon's office were resolved, everything went smoothly. Dr. Wetter is very calm, and patient. He has all the time in the world to answer any questions. He makes it a priority to make sure his patients are at ease with this proceddure. His bedside manner is gracious, personal, and professional. And judging from my lack of pain and lack of complications of any kind, Dr. Wetter is a wonderful surgeon.

I finally got to talk to the surgery scheduler in person, I called DAILY and talked to her exactly one week after my first call. I did all the calling, she never called me nor left a message on the answering machine.The good news is...there is no confusion, I am still a GO for October 2, 200. Now I just have to call the insurance company back and get an estimated cost on my out-of-the-pocket expenses.
PROBLEM: I am having a heck of a time getting people in the office to return my calls. I don't think the surgery scheduler has EVER returned a call. For example: I called on Friday to see if my surgery is still on--due to a receiving a denial letter from my insurance company (after having receiving an approval letter). The denial was for a WRONG CODE..and I want to be sure the office KNOWS THAT and that my surgery is still ON. I did mention in the message I was a bit PANICKED. STILL, no return call. It's Wednesday evening right now...I am getting really FED UP (no pun intended) The last time I had an issue with the office, Anne Timberlake came through for me. She is a godsend. Very thorough, organized and responsive: very professional. But I am concerned about the efficiency and responsiveness of the office staff (Anne says they are swamped...but still...TWO issues like this is a bit much!) Of course, this is my own PERSONAL impression of my PERSONAL experience. I am not making any statements regarding what you, or others, may experience. Maybe I just got unlucky (TWICE.)

Dr. Wetter is a very skilled laprascopic specialist. and has a great bedside manner as well. He answers all of his patients questions and addresses any concerns very thoroughly. There seems to be a very good aftercare program and follow-up visits are every two weeks right after surgery then every two months and then??? His office staff seem very knowlegable and competent overall. They are very busy however and can sometime be difficult to reach by phone and sometimes do not return phone calls. I would still rate my overall experience with this surgeon, his staff, and Mills Peninsula Hospital a 9++. I have had absolutely no complications and I believe that Dr. Wetter was the best choice I could have made in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We met for the first time on Sept.8,2000 and I found him to be very informative and smart. He seemed to have a great confidence about his work which in my opinion is a good quality. I got there late due to traffic and I was still seen and treated well by his staff. He did like to mention that he has never lost a patient before. He explained everything and I hardley had any questions after he finished expaining everything. I did get the feeling that if I had any more questions that I should ask Anne Timberlake instead of him, he said that he was very busy and to ask her and if she couldn't help then to call him. I don't really have a personal impression of him because I only think of him as a professional.

On my consult I arrived a 1/2 hr. early because I knew paper work was to be expected. I did have to wait 40 minutes from my scheduled time to see him. The receptionist did not inform me of his delay. Actually, I felt rather ignored by her. My consult with Dr.Wetter was very informative. He explained the procedures in depth. I however wanted to see a model type,like a dentist shows you fake teeth to explain things.I had approx. 25 questions and he answered all of them.He spent about one hour with my husband and I to make sure I understood everything. I checked his credentials. He also told me he has had no fatalites. But there still is a risk. He emphasized EXCERCISE, NO CARBONATED DRINKS, AND EAT LOTS OF PROTEIN, DRINK WATER.
Dr. Wetter came highly recommended. He strives for perfection. I feel confident to put my life in his hands. He told me he has performed more 100 lap RNY. He specialty is lap. By the way you'll love his accent and he is rather handsome.

At my initial consultation Dr. Wetter immediately put me at ease. His demeanlor was warm and friendly.

He reviewed the procedure with me and was happy to answer all of my questions. I was impressed with his willingness to listen to and accommodate my requests/suggestions whenever possible.

Dr. Wetter stressed the seriousness of WLS and listed all of the risks and complications which might stem from undergoing the procedure.

We also discussed how important exercise and diet are after surgery. He pointed out that in some studies the percentage of patients who do not successfully loses their weight have been as high as 30%. He then went on to discuss how to avoid becoming part of that statistic. He also outlined what you have to do post surgery to stay medically sound.

Dr. Wetter personally introduced me to his insurance/surgical scheduler, which I thought was a nice touch.

To date I have nothing negative to say about Dr. Wetter. I give him a rating of excellent.

Ok where to start,.upon meeting Dr Wetter for the first time I felt right at ease.His mannerism,personality,is friendly ,professional and I did not instantly immediately detect any sort of 'disgust' or anything negative from him.I've met Dr's before who I felt looked at me as though I was something less than human!! I'm not kidding.You can tell how & when people look at you; you can almost read their minds! Dr was equally as compasionate & caring in the hospital.I only saw him probably less than an handfull of times,once right before they put me out, later on that nite & probably two more times that week,and one time was around 9:30p the night before I went home! Dont expect him bright & early each morning,cuz he's a very busy guy! Even the nurses will tell you it's not unusual for him to show up late in the evenings!I cant say that there's anything I dislike about him.I will tell you,he's a very direct individual & if he tells you to do something or not to,you'd better listen.I'm telling you he knows what he's doing!He doesnt 'sugarcoat' anything.Everyone who has the opportunity to have him perform this surgery,can rest assured,you're getting the best! The hospital staff is wonderful also.Everyone right down to the ladies who clean your room! Enjoy your stay,because that'll probably be the easiest part of all that we're enduring.The tough part comes with the post op & how & what you eat is very crucial.