Fairfield Medical Center Hospital

I THOUGHT DR. CUSTER WAS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE. MY IMPRESSION STAYED THE SAME ABOUT HIM. THE OFFICE STAFF SEEMED VERY HAPPY FOR MY SUCCESS. I LOVED THE FACT THAT HE WAS VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD AND HE DIDN'T BEAT AROUND THE BUSH ABOUT THE RESULTS. HE IS VERY EASY TO TALK WITH. HE IS VERY SERIOUS ABOUT AFTERCARE. HE DOES HAVE AN AFTERCARE PROGRAM WHERE YOU GO AND SEE HIM AND THE DIETICIAN. HE WAS VERY OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT THE RISK OF HAVING THE SURGERY AND EVEN THE RISK THAT COULD TAKE PLACE AFTER THE SURGERY. I BELIEVE THAT HE IS ONE OF THE BEST PHYSICIANS THAT I'VE ENCOUNTERED IN A LONG TIME.

Well, I guess my first impression of Dr. Custer was his directness and his willingness to get right to the point. I have only met with him once, so not much more to say now. As far as office staff, after reading other comments on this doctor, I expected a hard time dealing with them regarding insurance. After a few times, I have nothing but respect and admiration for Carrie. She has been nothing short of excellent about returning calls and answering my questions. I applaud all that Carrie does in the limited time she has.

As far as surgery went, Dr. Custer came in and gave me the low-down once again, explaining the risks and successes with someone my size. He really put my mind at ease and I was ready to go. It took him only about an hour in surgery, and then he came to see me as soon as I woke up. Told me all went extremely well and that he had updated my wife also. I saw him every day I was in the hospital as well as his senior resident. Only concern was that he never looked at my incision personally before discharging me, and I never saw him for my first follow-up. Other than that, I am very happy with my overall experience.

My first impression of Dr.Custer was that he is very caring and knowledgable about this surgery. He took time to explain the surgery and answer any questions that I might have. I was his last surgery of the day on Friday December 26th. He came into pre-op and talked with me for a few minutes and I was on my way to the operating room. Let me say this loud and clear! I have read some of the reviews on profiles that have said that Dr. Custer is arrogant or short. I would totally have to disagree! He is a very busy man with a very busy schedule and people have to realize that he has a million things to do every day to make sure that each and every surgery whether it be gastric bypass or any other surgery goes well. This man is to be commended for his vocation and everyone needs to just be patient and understanding of this and cut this man some slack! After having this surgery I am just thankful that someone has the know how to put peoples lives back on track! Overall I would rate this man an 11 on a scale of 1-10. I look forward to having him oversee my progress when he comes off of this much deserved vacation. I really don't have any negative comments about this man. He has saved my life literally!

Dr. Custer very polite and straight to the point. Though I was upset that I had to go on a supervised diet for 6 months for insurance purposes and that I have never done so before. The office staff very polite and helpful.

Dr Custer was great! He is about my age as I understand it, so when I first went to see him I asked him if he was old enough to do this surgery. He laughed at me and we had a great rapport. After surgery I called him my little angel. He is there when you need him.

His staff is not as kind as I thought they could have been. Not that they were mean, because they weren't. Some of the people were very pleasant and others were not. However, this office is not just a bariatric office, it is a surgical office of all types. So if you go, be prepared to meet all types of people in the waiting room.

The program is great. They offer monthly meeetings, a registered dietician, exercise and physical therapy advice, pre-surgery group meetins with the surgeon, and on and on.

I really would recommend this surgeon for his knowledge, confidence, competence and committment. I thought he was very good with me and I have never had a question go unanswered.

Dr. Custer was amazing. He's very professional, friendly, and caring. At first when I met him I thought he was a bit rushed, but that first impression could not have been more wrong. My husband and I both had our surgeries with Dr. Custer and once I saw his concern for my husband (who had surgery 1 month before me) I was thoroughly impressed! When I went in to have my surgery he was very friendly and caring. He checked on me with the anesthesiologist prior to surgery, and came to speak with me after surgery to inform me of how things went. He spoke with my family and his partner, Dr. Price visited me in the hospital the day afte rmy surgery. Overall, I would not recommend any other group of surgeons to someone considering this type of surgery.

My first meeting with Dr. Custer was on July 24, 2003. I found Dr. Custer to be straight forward as well as concerned. He answered all of my questions that I had. He was impressed with my knowledge of this surgery. I have been studying this surgery for two years so I know a little bit about it. Working at a hospital also helps. I had everything in line for him so we could expediate the process some. I found Kathy, Dr.Custer's nurse to be warm and welcoming too. The only down fall I had with Mid Ohio Surgical Assoc was with Carrie, the insurance coordinator. She is constantly busy and seems to be handling more than she can. I ended up submitting all medical documents to my insurance company myself. My insurance company recieved all my documents that I sent via UPS and approved me for surgery before recieving my file from Mid Ohio Surgical. I was tired of waiting and I knew what exactly the insurance company needed. Also, I stayed in constant contact with my rep. All in all the process was ok. Some minors faults but these can eventually be overcome by comments of the patients.

Well, first of all Dr. Custer is a very good looking man and having to see him at my all time worst was embarrassing..lol. My next impression of this man is that he was willing to spend some quality time with me to discuss the insurance process, go over my surgical choices (lap or open), and just to get to know me. The only thing I didn't care for is he tends to start speaking oud enough I can hear him and then he quiets down a bit. Kind of hard to hear sometimes. His nurse Kathy is just as wonderful. I haven't met anyone at the office (Mid-Ohio Surgical Assoc.) who isn't. They are all of the same mind set. They want every potential patient who walks in to succeed and they are willing to give 110% to make sure that each individual does reach his or her goal.

Dr. Custer and his affiliate, Dr. Price; both have a structured pre-surgical care and post-surgical care program that is mandatory for each surgical candidate. This ensures that the patient is very aware of how important the 6wks of liquid diet is. How beneficial the walking is and how detrimental any abuse of these two items can be if they are not done. You attend this class with a "coach" or your person who is going to make sure you stick to your diet & exercise program. Your "coach" is also trained on the foods you can have, what consistency is allowed, & how to keep you motivated to not give in to temptation and try to take the easy way out.

Both doctors also have a monthly support group meeting that they want you to attend at least once prior to surgery and as many times after that as you wish. This is an open forum for people of all stages: those thinking about having the surgery, those who are scheduled, but haven't had it yet, those who have had it recently and those who are lifetime achievers. A very cool idea the support group has is a clothing exchange. As you skinny down, you can bring in your old clothes and allow others to use what you had. This is very good for everyone so noone is spending a lot of $$ for something he/she may only wear for a month!!

Once I have my surgery, I'll update this information regarding bedside manner, et al.

I was very impressed with Dr. Custer from the moment I met him. He was friendly and made me feel at ease immediately. He answered all of our questions. My husband went with me to the initial consultation, which was 10-01-02. He explained the risks of the surgery and the difference between the open and the lap. Everrything went pretty smoothly with the approval process. My opinion of him has not changed. His office staff has been very helpful. Carrie is sometimes abrupt, but I remember she IS a very busy person. Kathy has always been easy to talk to. About a week after my surgery I broke out in a rash on my legs and called Kathy. She called me back in a very timely manner and we discussed anyting different I may be doing and realized it had to be the blood thinner I was on Post-Op. She had me stop taking it and take an aspirin a day. The rash cleared up within 2 days. She also told me to be sure to walk as much as I could since I was not on the thinner. Dr. Custer's staff has been wonderful on all of my post op. visits. I would recommend Dr. Custer and his staff to anyone. My husband also needs to have the surgery. I called in July 03 to get his consultation scheduled and they could not see him until Dec. 03. They could get him in sooner with one of his associates, but he said no, he wanted to see Dr. Custer. I would say that surgical competence is definitely better than a bedside manner and Dr. Custer has the competence over bedside manner, but he is not rude or nasty. He is just not chatty.

The consult was a very informative session. Both Dr. Custer and his nurse Kathy took the time to answer all questions.

Carrie who is responsible for insurance submissions is exremely overworked. She tries to be accomodating, but sometimes the work load prevents it.

I've had several follow up conversations with Kathy, who has also been helpful and informative.