Brigham and Women's Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Hospital

'He's very competent. When you first meet him

I couldn't say enough about Dr. Ashley Vernon --- not only is she an amazing surgeon, but she was so supportive. I was completely at ease under her care. She's the best!

Great experience. Surgery was delayed, was brought into a large "entertainment" room, equipped with TVs, internet access, books. Given a beeper and was checked on frequently by staff.

All members of health care team introduced themselves and were quite friendly. Pain was kept well under control.

Overall great experience!!!!

My only comment was that my overnight stay was terrible. So noisy and disruptive that I did not sleep at all and had to stay another night in order to be well enough to leave. After comments to the nursing staff the next morning, the conditions were quite opposite the next evening and I had a restfull night and was discharged early the next morning.

Dr. Vernon is a sweet and very down to earth doctor. She has a lot of patience and so does her staff. She is VERY busy and always on the move, she may seem a bit harried but dont let this discourage you. She is a perfectionist (and in my opinion) one of the country's leading Lap Band surgeons. Anyone who performs the surgery live on the internet for Inamed, the company that makes the lap band, has a reputation that speaks for itself! Check out lap-band.com/news.html to watch this procedure being done by Dr. Vernon. Its extremely interesting and may help you to feel better knowing what exactly goes on during surgery!
I am less then a week post op, but the whole procedure and all events leading to the surgery went fairly flawlessly. Brigham and Womans Hospital is a terrific institution where you cant count on the best care available.

Dr. Shikora was very nice the first time I had seen him. He was very good explained everything the pro's and the con's he made me feel comfortable. He is very busy but alway's makes the time for you. Overall I would rate him a 10. I have only good things to say about him.

Christina Mcleod 11/29/05

Dr. Vernon was marvelous. She expalined to the depth that I wanted. always asked if I had questions. Was very consvative in her proceedures.
Coordinated filling (Lab Band) and Nutrition care. Very Structured after care program.

Excellent Surgeon...available by email and very responsive.

Office staff has been going through transition...and can be difficult to deal.

Bedside manor typical...she is a busy surgeon!

Has a great team in hospital, and when you are with her, she is very focused on you.

Overall a 9 out of 10. (no one is a 10)

I first heard her speak at a general information meeting that is required by patients who want to have wls at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She seemed very informed and realistic.
I must say her office does not seem as organized. I went for my first consult visit and I guess I was supposed to meet with a Physician's assistant first before actually meeting with her but no one else came in the room prior to her except for the medical assistant to get my weight and figure out my BMI. She had a resident with her (it is a teaching hospital) and during my phone screen which was the initial time I had called to make the appointment, the gal asked what I weighed and I guessed since there wasn't a scale in my office when I called, so I told her about 260. Well when they weighed me in at my first consult, they had me at 274 fully dressed with jeans, light jacket and sneakers on. When she saw the I had "gained" 14 pounds since August (consult Oct. 24th) she gave the resident a look and said right in front of me, some people gain weight before the surgery. I was offended by this remark but just let it go as I feel that was not my real weight. I weighed myself the next day at my office (I work for Brigham doctors myself) in one of the exam rooms, I was 266. Her secretary is very nice but she seems overloaded with work. On my first consult I was given a timeline of end of December beginning of January for surgery and here it is now going into January and a date is not yet set. I have tried twice now to get a date set as I have to train someone to do my job and nothing yet, even was "disconnected" once while trying to see if it was scheduled yet.
I have already paid the 500.00 fee which is also required by the Brigham to have wls there. This fee is supposed to cover the meetings that they want you to attend, the nutritionist, and the physician's assistants which are always available for questions. You can not get this back if you change your mind or want to switch to another hospital or doctor. If it wasnt for that I probably would be changing hospitals even though I know the Brigham is a great hospital and I am comfortable with the fact that I know my docs I work for will be in to see me daily while I am in house. When I do meet with her again for pre-op I am definately going to express my concerns with her.

December 30th
Ok finally got to speak with Marie at the office and she explained to me why things are moving kinda slowly right now. My surgeon is going to want to see me 4 weeks prior to surgery, I was under the impression it would only be a couple of weeks. She is on vacation right now and Marie needs to speak with her regarding getting me in for my follow up with her. So hopefully I will hear back from her next week sometime. Now I am not feeling quite as anxious as this past week. Also found out that the girl that was the originally secretary/coordinator...today was her last day and Marie is training to take the position. Like I said, now I am not so anxious. I have read several comments on Dr Vernon and everyone of them sounded great. Keeping my fingers crossed.

January 13th
After haunting Maria at the office and leaving messages at the office and seemed like there is such poor communication being she is very new and all I finally just emailed the doctor myself and today I finally got a surgery date!!!!!! I am sooo excited and cant wait. Gotta get these last 6-8 pounds off prior to surgery though...

I met with Dr. Vernon on two occasions before the surgery and she was easy to converse with and very forthright about addressing my concerns (like whether I was a lap-band candidate with a BMI of 55). At my second appointment, I came armed with a list of questions and we sat in her office and discussed them all. I was afraid she would think I had too many but she was very patient about answering them and discussing the issues. I did not see her after my surgery while I was in the hospital but she did speak with my husband via phone right after the procedure to let him know how it had gone and how I was doing.