Roger De La Torre Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

My surgeons were Dr. Scott and Dr. De La Torre. My first impression of Dr Scott was very positive. I heard him speak at our meeting and found that he was very informative, along with having a great sense of humor. I liked him right away. I also like the fact he was very up front and didn't beat around the bush. I would of never made it thru the whole insurance experience without Natalie. I can not brag on her enough. She is an incrediable and beautiful human being. She has been thru the ups and downs and I respect her advice and experiencs. I only saw Dr. De La Torre the day after, while I was still in the hospital. He seemed very nice and had a pleasant bedside manner. I continue to see Dr. Scott for follow-up. He is very up front about his likes and dislikes. I appreciate his honesty. He is able to answer any and all questions I have had. I would recommend these Doctors to anyone looking for excellant health care and experience. They truely have changed my life. The risk was worth the results. My only disappointment is that aftercare programs/support groups are not available closer. I am greatful to them everyday!!

HE is wonderful in every way!
He told me the risks and benefits flat out and he has wonderful bedside manner. AND TO TOP IT OFF HES A HOTTIE

Very Professional and competent. I met my surgeon 11 days before my surgery.

He explains all the risks and all the reasons for not having this surgery and if you're still around after all of that you get a surgery date. He is a very busy, highly skilled surgeon and his time is at a premium.

I had already done a great deal of research before the meeting and had my questions written down, although he answered most of them before I had to ask.

My advice would be for you to do the research and have your questions ready. Be sure and take all medication info with you and be prepared to explain why these meds are being taken. After all the better prepared you are the more the surgeon will believe that you are truely ready for this surgery.

He is an excellent surgeon and I would not hesitate to recommend him. And although it is hard to judge a doctors bedside manner from one meeting, I found him to be highly professional and concerned with my welfare.

My first impression of Dr. De La Torre, was "Wow, he looks much, much younger than I thought he would look. He is also much thinner than the picture on the web site."

He was very informative about the surgery and he also taped his orientation. He did this as a backup for lawsuits, I guess.

He was straight foward and sincere. His staff is wonderfull and helpful. He has 3,000 surgerys under his belt, very impressive. He has never "lost" a patient from the surgery and he does not do unnecessary gall bladder removal either, if you don't need it.

The support group meets on the 1st and 3rd Wed of the month.

I found his bedside manner just fine.

I had the opportunity to meet Dr. De La Torre on the day of my all day information session. It is strange how everyone writes how different he looks in person but believe it or not, he was much younger looking. I got the impreesion he was very true to his craft and was very passionate about the procedures. Dr. De La Torre covered all the good points, risk, answered any and all questions and explained what the process would be like. During the one on one, I did not have many questions since most of them was covered during the group session. He approved me for the Lap Band but stated I would loose a little slower, not as much and would have to work hard. I did feel a little strange when he had to record the sessions. I guess I understood why but it made me feel like the odds of having an unpleasant experience may be lurking. I think I have made a good choice. I'll keep you posted. In Gods hands.

I absolutly loved having Dr. De La Torre do my surgery. He is very educated in this surgery and takes every step that he can to make sure that we have a risk free surgery. I met him when we had our all day class, he came in and talked to us for a couple of hours going over all the risk involved so that we weren't going into this thing thinking that only good things will come out of it. He has been doing these surgeries for many years and has developed many techniques that drs from other areas come to learn about. I then seen him again on the morning of my surgery, he came into the pre-op area and talked to me before hand. His assistant surgeon came in also and introduced himself. I didn't see him after surgury while I stayed in the hospital but Nancy from the office came over the day after my surgery to see how I was doing. I felt like that was a big bonus, that his nurse would take time out of her day to come over and check on us to make sure we had everything we needed. Every time I have called the office the office gals are more then willing to get me the answers I need, if they don't know it then they will find out and call me back. I would recomend Dr. De La Torre to anyone that ever considered this surgery. He is just absolutly a saint in my book.

My first impression of Dr De la Torre was tnat he was very intelligent and looked a little younger than I thought he would look. His staff exudes the same professionalism,intellegence, and openness that he did. It made me feel like I selected the best medical practice in the WLS/Bariatric field. He does emphasize aftercare and has a structured aftercare program. He went into the risks in detail. On a scale of 1-10, I would definitely rate him a 10. I would prefer a surgeon to have both bedside manner and surgical competence, however if he was lacking in an area I would rather for him to have surgical competence. I only saw him during my pre-ops class and in the operating room. People, personally I believe this doctor and his staff is one of the best in his field. If you choose him, I don't think you would be sorry.

I really liked the team at Dr De La Torre's office. Nancy is the nurse that everyone sees most often. I only saw Dr De La Torre briefly before the surgery, on surgery day and once afterward. The nurses and nurse practioners are the ones who take care of you and they were wonderful. They made sure that I was prepared for the surgey and knew exactly what to expect. I had a private room n the hospital and everyone on our floor had bariatric surgery so all the nursing staff etc knew how to best take care of us. The staff was very supportive and the after care was extensive.
Nancy helped a lot when I had difficulty eating and neeced to make some adjustments.

We had a full day at the Dr's ofice in a groups of people who had gone through all the preparation for the surgery. This day went over risks, the surgery process, recovery, the level of commitment that we needed to make for recovery and success. We also went over products such as Isopure and talked about the importance of the protien and which were the best ones as far as taste and nutrition.
Afterward we each had an individual exam and consultation to decide if we wanted to set up our surgery. Not everyone decided to go through with the surgery and they turned down two people I talked to because they thought they were not ready for the commitment to a life long change.
As far as the surgery went, It took aout four hours, I was up and walking that evening and I had no complications escept that my IV would not stay connected so I di dnot have any pain medication from right after midnight until sometime the next morning. I was not in pain so it was OK.
After talking to others about their surgery, complications, recovery etc. I feel blessed that I chose Dr De La Torre as his surgical skills are wonderful. His bedside manner is not so great so that is why he has a staff who has those qualities. They were accessable by phone in between appointments and were always friendly and eager to help.
The opnly thing I did not like is that after the surgery, usually your surgeon comes in to tlak to you about how the surgery went. This did not happen. After my surgery, I never saw Dr De La Torre again. His partner took out staples in the office. My husband said that Dr De La Torre came and talked to him about the surgery but my husband is not good at communicating what the Dr said. I had to talk to Nancy to find out particulars about my surgery. I just like to hear about my personal procedure from my Doctor, that is something that is important to me and that was lacking in this experience.

Dr. De La Torre was terrific! I read that his bedside manner left alot to be desired, so I was prepared for that, but he was great to me! The day after surgery I felt queasy and was having trouble and he came to see me twice and eventually got me feeling much better!

I think his skills are the best in St. Louis, especially with Dr Richardson as his partner. I don't think there is a better team in the country for Lap WLS.

I liked Dr. De La Torre. I think he is very good at what he does. I did not feel he was very personalbe but we can't be good at everything and if he is going to be good at something, I would prefer it to be the surg. aspect and not the "telling my family what all went wrong" kind of way.