Michael Hodge Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.
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Dr. Hodge and his staff have been such a joy to work with. They try everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible. Dr. Hodge is very supportive and understanding and he and his staff know what it takes to get approval from insurance. We both decided on the LAP RYN procedure. They are all angels. The only thing negative I would say is that they have so many patients coming everyday that they are rushed and might not be able to talk to you that long.
I asked him which surgery procure should I do..Dr. Hodge anwser my question with honesty. He said, If I were you I would not choose any and just don't do it. I would not if it were me. It made me think he was not out for the money and he cared about his clients.
The staff is nice and will answer any problems you have with insurance and such. And the surgery also. They go over it with you to make sure you know everything.
He told me also when I asked how many people die from the surgery. He was honest. Three from unknown heart problems and one sucide.
He is straigh forward and will not lie to you. I like the fact he do not hold anything back.
The only negative thing to say about him is that he is not very informed about the insurance companies and their restiction of what doctor or dietion you can see.
I was told by him that I could get a dietion and a doctor to do the psyche evaluations here. You can not you have to go to the one he picks you. Not the one that is closer to you. So I have to drive from knoxville to Johnson City for each and every meeting.
He has a good bedside manner when talking to the clients. Very friendly and patient like a doctor should be in this day and age.
He just does not do the surgery on his own. He and his partner Dr.Waston both work on you too. So you got two good doctors doing the surgery.
6/24/2005 Today I met the man that will be saving my life. My first impression...I thought to myself that he is just going thru the motions, you know read this, sign here, blah, blah, blah....but he and I had a very serious conversation about a friend who had WLS and had some serious medical problems that occured after the surgery (no fault of the docs) and I told Dr. Hodge that he said he would do it again and the doctor was just so beside himself, it gave him goose bumps. That was when I realized that Dr. Hodge was serious about his patients and somehow; some way he cared about each of us and for that 30/45 muntes he spends with you....you become his only case that matters. I have liked his office staff...they all have been very accomodating friendly, supportive, informative. Everyone in his office that day stressed pre op and post op care. Both sides were treated equally, in the fact you can't have one without the other. I feel perfectly at ease with my choice of surgeon.
Dr Hodge seems to be totally cool. He sat and answered my 1000 questions patiently. His office staff have been wonderful and very helpful.
Had my first consult with him the 28th.. it was a 3 hour drive for me so I was the last patient of the day and when I arrived the office was pretty much empty..felt kinda impersonal at first, however everyone was kind and got me in to see him within about 15 minutes or so..he was very nice looking and younger than I expected but very soft spoken and I felt pretty at ease with him.
He was rather quick in describing what the surgery was and etc..but he was good to answer my questions. ..anyways it was good.. I believe he will be a good doctor and feel confident he is the surgeon for me. He has a great staff from what I saw..very friendly. Will know more in time..right now I have been given the checklist of what to do before the second consult and until that is completed I can't really say alot about them.
What I least liked about him, was maybe the fact that I drove 3 hours for a VERY FAST consultation..
As far as aftercare he did tell me the fact of this surgery being a tool and stressed the importance of knowing it is about a serious life changing decision and that it is for the rest of my life. Otherwise he didn't say alot about aftercare..did suggest a support group before and after surgery.
As far as a structured aftercare program , he didn't really talk about one as of yet.
About risks, he covered the list of possible complications and risks.
To rate him, I would probably say he is a good choice.. he seemed knowledgable and sincere..and I have faith in him.
surgical competence or bedside manner..I will let ya know in time lol.. so far hes been fine with both :).
My impression of Dr. Hodge was great from the start. He is a soft spoken man who has a calming presence about him. He made sure that he had answered any questions I might have about AGB and stressed that it would be up to me to make this work, that this is not a magic proceedure. He did emphasize aftercare at each meeting and at the hospital too. I never felt uncomfortable or uneasy about him as a doctor or as my surgeron. He even remembered little details I had mentioned (like about school) that I didn't think he would remember. He also pushed from his end to try to get my surgery scheduled for before school started for the semester (which I ended up having to cancel due to getting sick).
Overall I would rate Dr. Hodge an A+ all the way around and would highly recommend him to anyone. His surgical competence was excellent and his bedside manner was outstanding.
The only negitive I can think of is that I didn't get a real good feeling about one of the nurses at his and Dr. Watson's office. She came off as rather crass and uncaring the couple of times I met her.... but I didn't really care since she wasn't the one I would have a long term relationship with going through this.
The rest of his staff was super too. They all were very caring and helpful anytime I needed to call.
Dr. Hodge left a GREAT first impression
His staff is wonderful. Judy and Ann especially. So far I do not dislike anything about him or his staff. He has a lot of patience (pardon the pun) He is very knowledgable and makes you feel very comfortable. On 10/20/04 I met with Dr. Hodge again. He answered all of my questions (and I had plenty). He confirmed that Dr. Jamie Ponce will be scrubed in not just there to proctor. I feel good about that as he has a lot of lap band experience. Ironic...Dr. Hodge trained Dr. Ponce in general surgery and now Dr. Ponce is training Dr. Hodge in Lap band surgery.
Second impression is the same, but better than the first. He seems to be great all around.
MY FIRST IMPRESSION OF DR. HODGE WAS GOOD HE WAS STRAIGHT FORWARD AND VERY TO THE POINT. HE ANSWERED ALL OF MY MANY QUESTIONS I HAD AND DID NOT RUSH ME. THE OFFICE STAFF WERE VERY GOOD. DR. HODGE LET YOU KNOW OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT THIS WAS NOT A MAGIC EASY FIX BUT A TOOL TO BE USED TO HELP YOU BE A SUCCESS. HE ALSO WENT OVER THAT THIS WAS MAJOR SURGERY AND THERE WERE MANY RISKS INVOLVED HE TALKED ABOUT THEM AND GAVE YOU A BOOK TO READ WITH ALOT OF INFO ABOUT THE SURGERY AND THE RISKS. IF I HAD TO RATE DR. HODGE ON A SCALE FROM 1-10 I WOULD GIVE HIM A 9. DR. HODGE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO HELP ME AFTER THE SURGERY I WAS HAVING ALOT OF PAIN AND TROUBLE BREATHING SO HE SENT ME TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND WE FOUND OUT THAT I HAD PLURASY. A INTERNAL MED DOCTOR TOOK OVER MY CARE FOR THIS BUT ALL THREE DAYS I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL DR. HODGE CAME TO SEE ME AND MAKE SURE I WAS IMPROVING AND GETTING GOOD CARE. SO I WOULD SUM THIS UP BY SAYING DR. HODGE IS A VERY KNOWLEDGABLE AND CARING DOCTOR.
He was a very nice and helpful with all my questions.
I still think he is wonderful.
They were very nice and helpful.
Nothing.
That he is very straight forward about everything.
He let's you know how important it is for your success.
He wants you to go to a organized support group and there is one in Johnson city and nearby morristown which ever one is closer to you.
He is very straight forward and truthful about the risks he holds nothing back.
A 9 out of 10.
Both are great. after my surgury I got pluracy and was put in the hospital for 3 more days under another doctors care for internal med. but Dr. Hodge came to see me every day in the hospital to make sure i was improving.