Malcolm Robinson Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

He is very nice and completely wants to make sure you are emotionally ready for the surgery. I will be going to my follow up visit next week. His secratart Jen is fabulus.

I was taken into my appointment very promptly, which was nice. I spent 45 minutes with a physicians assistant, going over the roux-en-y proceedure. The risks, the complications, etc. I was weighed, asked my medical history. The physicians assistant was young, and very business like, but not at all unpleasant. I met Dr. Robinson at this point. He came in and briefly outlined all that had been said to me by the PA. He was very pleasant. He seems to have a nice demeanor.
Post Op: Dr Robinson is a very competent, and professional Doctor. I was very happy with the care I received from him. His staff is very good with follow up when I had questions and problems.

I went to Dr. Robinson because he was the one I was referred to by my insurance (Harvard Pilgrim). I read a lot of info and reviews about him on this site and felt good about the referral. Once I met him, I was not overly impressed with his demeanor (very serious and rushed) - but what matters most is that I believe him to be a very good surgeon. His office staff make up for his lack of "people skills" - he has wonderful Physician Assistants (Gina is a great one) and a nice secretary named Jennifer

Dr. Robinson was very matter-of-fact and efficient in my two meetings pre-op. I did not spend a great deal of time with him before my operation. I firmly beleive that I am my own best advocate - so I did research on the surgery and my surgeon before I even met with him.
After my surgery I had a chance to see Dr. Robinson as very warm and caring. He did a great job on my surgery and post-op care.

Dr. Robinson's office staff is extremely busy but efficient. The PA's are warm and helpful. Whether in person or on the phone I have found each of them to be wonderful.

If asked which is better, surgical competence or bedside manner, Dr. Robinson is an excellent surgeon. I brought someone I loved to hold my hand - I didn't expect it from my doctor.

The first time I met with Dr. Robinson was in January. I spoke with Jennifer his secertary and his PA for most of time. His PA breif me on the surgery and then he came in towards the end of the appointment and looked over everything asked if I had any questions and told me that I qualify for the surgery and that Jen will be contacting me on my up comming appointments. When I met with him today for my final appointment(8-11-03) it was a total of 2-3 minutes. He again asked if I have any questions and told me he will see me next week. He is a very professional person very start forward and serious. He is the type of person I would want to do my surgery. He is knowledgable of the prosedure, like one of his prior patient if you are looking for him to hold his hand call your mother.

<font face="Technical"><font size=4><b>10.08.2002</b><p>My appointment began with Dr. Robinson's PA, Gina Grudinskas. She put me so much at ease. She answered all of my questions and made me feel very comfortable in asking as many questions as I needed to ask. About mid-way through the appointment, Dr. Robinson came in, introduced himself, sat down and quickly reviewed my records. He was very business like and somewhat aloof. He asked me if I had any questions specifically for him, but I was so tongue tied that I couldn't think of a thing. He said I was an appropriate candidate for the surgery. Then, since I didn't have any specific questions for him, he went ahead and left me with Gina to finish up with all of my questions. I liked him, but found myself feeling somewhat intimidated by his presence. But, I don't want to give the wrong impression here -- I find it difficult to be relaxed and at ease with male doctors in general and so I think I would have been very self-conscious with any male doctor. Dr. Robinson was more than willing to answer my questions, but I just was not able to allow myself to ask them of him. I could with Gina but not with him. I think I would have felt more comfortable with him had he been in the room from the start. There was no rapport between us like there was with Gina. If this important to you, you may wish to find a different doctor. I am more concerned about his surgical skill (he has done several hundred surgeries) than his bedside manner, although he struck me as being compassionate and caring. Anway, all total, the time spent with Gina was about 40 minutes or so and at no time did I feel rushed. I was encouraged to call with questions as well. The after care program is more informal at the Brigham, but there are support group meetings every 2nd and 4th Tuesday. I will next meet with the nutritionist, have a sleep study, and a few other tests, and then surgery sometime in February or March, 2003. I'm grateful for the time to prepare.</font></font></p>

Dr. Robindon is very smart, kind and knows his stuff. Be warned that he is a very busy man and you will have more dealings with his office staff, mostly his PA. His P.A. Gina was great when she first went over the whole procedure with me, then Dr Robinson meets you and is certainly available if you have anymore questions or concerns. I was concerned because I had prior abdominal surgery and thought it would make this one difficult, he made me feel pretty sure that it was in a different area and would not be a big problem and thankfully, he was right!
I think that all of the aftercare issues and risks were covered quite well. I can't really say there was anything that I liked 'least' about him. I would rate him overall very high.

He is a big, tall giant of a man. He moves quietly and with a calm self-assurance that put me at ease. He has a deep voice and explains things thoroughly. He didn't spend much time with me, but answered all my questions and gave me the impression that he wasn't rushed, even though his exam rooms were full! His PA Leigh is just a pleasure to talk to, very informative and gentle. She respected how much research I had done on this surgery and filled in the parts I didn't know with patience and answered all my questions (and I had alot!). She forewarned me about hair thinning/loss which is a post-op side effect I'd never even read about.

Dr. Robinson's staff is excellent! Jennifer, his secretary, never seemed annoyed by my million calls to get things scheduled, and even apologized for not answering a voicemail I had left. Wow. They handled the insurance and scheduling all my other appts.

B&W has a specific support group just for Dr. Robinson's patients, which I like.

The downsides I found: getting a call back to voicemail can be difficult. I found it better to call back another time until I got a person. Same with e-mail. Support group times are tough for anyone who works (Tuesdays at 4pm!). Outpatient registration staff (not his office) were lazy and sent me directly to his office without registering me! Jennifer took care of my registration process.

I think the good far outweighs (no pun intended!) the few inconveniences I encountered.

I met with Dr. Malcom Robisnon on 09-17-02. His staff was great. I met with his P.A. for almost the entire visit. She was very informative. I only met with the suregon for about 5 minutes. But, i do feel very comfortable with hi,/

Dr. Robinson very friendly! It is quite hard getting a call back from his staff, but other than that – he really seems professional.

His staff THOROUGHLY went over the positives, and negatives about the surgery & gave me lots to look forward to.