Robert Rabkin Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

I liked their nurse educator. She was funny, informative and on time. I met with Dr. Jossart, Dr. Rabkin's assosciate. He was very professional and I felt that he would do a good job. I will have to look for another surgeon, though. As of Jan 1, 2001, these Dr's will not accept ANY insurance. You must have $11,000 cash up front. I simply do not have that much money and have no hope of ever getting that much together. I walked out of the office very depressed, discouraged and have not slept well for days. I think it will be cheeper to be buried! WARNING!!!! Don't put yourself through this unless you know you have the money!

My first impression of Dr. Rabkin was he was very kind and easy to talk to. His office staff was wonderful. Especially Delphine and Tracy. Aftercare is very important to Dr. Rabkin which is why you pay a Program Fee. The one thing I have to say negative about my experience is how difficult it is to get a live person on the phone during normal business hours. You have to keep calling and the few times someone answers, you leave a message and almost never get a call back. His office can use some improvement in that regard, but overall I would recommend them highly. Just be prepared to call, call, and call :-).

My husband and I met with Dr Rabkin on 10/14/99 for my first consult. Since I am a medical transcriptionist and around more than 100 physicians in a week, I have much knowledge and bias in reference to surgeons and surgical procedures. Dr Rabkin was an extremely efficient and adept communicator of both technical information regarding the surgeon, and his personality came through in his discussions. He stayed with my husband and me answering questions until we had no more questions to ask! He is not running a WLS surgery mill -- he is careful and does much preoperative testing and evaluating before taking someone into the operating room. I highly recommend him and also give high marks to his clinical nurse specialist - Delphine.

Dr. Rabkin is an incredible man, a meticulous surgeon, and he truly cares about his patients. I had my surgery 18 months ago, and I have never changed my opinion of him. I met with several surgeons, and none of them held a candle to Dr. Rabkin. The office staff has had some growing pains. Delphine is an incredible RN who works there, but there has been a lot of turnover in the last six months which has been difficult at times. It seems that now they are moved into a new and bigger office and things are a little more organized. He has a structured aftercare program, and has been good about my follow-up appointments and bloodwork. I would give Dr. Robert Rabkin a 10. He is great with bedside manner, but also an amazing surgeon. Those things generally don't go together, but they do with him. I highly recommend him.

Dr. Rabkin is a very kind, soft spoken, caring man. I felt very comfortable with him and look forward to having him do my surgery.

I flew from San Diego to have a consult with Dr. Rabkin on 9-7-00. His nurse, Delphine, could not have been nicer or more helpful. She is a doll. His office was very busy so I waited quite a long time to see Dr. Rabkin. First impression: he is very reserved and quiet. Second impression: he is very caring and respectful of his patients. Overall: I give him and his staff a "10". I feel very comfortable going into surgery with him; he has performed 600 bariatric surgeries, and 88 of those have been Lap. He has a wonderful reputation as a very skilled surgeon.

The aftercare is a very crucial component to his program; compliance in taking daily vitamins for the rest of your life is stressed, and so is the need for coming in for follow-up tests. The hospital is clean and nice.

My first impression was wow, this man really cares about what he is doing. As busy as he is, he always attends his support group meetings both in Ventura and San Francisco and makes himself available to us for any questions or problems. His office staff both in Ventura and San Francisco were wonderful. I started out in Ventura, but he moved his practice to San Francisco the first of the year (2000) so I ended up having surgery there. What a wonderful experience. I can't say enough about this gentle, soft spoken, knowledgable man. He is a brilliant surgeon who truly cares about his patients and gives the best of care to them. As other have said, he only hires the best and his support group both in Ventura and San Francisco were a testemonial to that. I rate him a 10+ in all ways!! By the way, I'm 12 days post op and feel I had the very best care by him and the hospital both.

9/3 I took a trip so San Francisco in July for my 3 month check up. Dr. Rabkin was so kind and warm. He told me I was doing great and encouraged me to come the the meetings in Ventura monthly (which I still do) and asked me to come back in October if I could. He wants to keep track of me. He also said if it was difficult that it would be ok to visit my doctor in Oxnard and he would FAX her all of the information. He is a wonderful surgeon and kind man. I am still happy I had my surgery performed by him.

I met with Dr. Rabkin and his staff on July 13, 2000. It is hard to explain but the atmosphere is so different than any other Dr. office I had been in. Delphine and Jamie were so nice and Dr. Rabkin made me feel very comfortable. They all had a calming effect on me, I was very nervous and excited and after meeting with them I have felt I had known them for along time. Dr Rabkin was impressed by the research that I had done. I had told him were I received most of my information (obesityhelp.com) He had said he like a informed and educated patient. I don't like the $3,000.00 fee that he charges above what the insurance will pay (this is for aftercare, support groups and research) , but I feel I have no choice but to pay. I will beg, borrow and steal to get the money.....lol. I trust Dr. Rabkin with my life, and feel he is the best around from the research that I have done.

My first impression of Dr. Rabkin was that he was very kind and very sensitive and very understanding of the problems of obese people! After having surgery, being in the hospital, having my follow-up visits and seeing him for the past 16 months, my opinion has not changed one bit!!! He is very kind, he is very sensitive, and he is very aware of the problems and concerns of the obese!

If I were to try to find fault with his procedures, the aftercare would have to be the weakest area in his office. I was on the internet in the "one list" for OSSG surgery and the people on the list were more help in the aftercare department than Dr. Rabkins office was. But, in the last 16 months he has hired some new people and I think they are doing a better job of the aftercare part!

Overall, Dr. Rabkin is great and I give him an A+.

Softspoken, gentle.
Office staff spectacular.
Major aftercare, support meetings and access to the office RN at any time.