Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Hospital

Direct & to the point.
Don't know for I have only seen him once.
His staff is great.
Probably his mannerism. Thought he would be a little more friendly/congenial.
Very much.
Yes
In depth.
Good
Don't know for I have not had my surgery yet.

My experience as a patient of Dr. Schewitzer has been very positive. To begin with, as I'm sure we all do, I tried to look obnjectively and carefully for a surgeon with knowledge and experise in the field. I looked at experience, credentials and statistics. I looked for someone who was genuine, easy to approach and was comfortable and willing to answer questions. Dr. Schweitzer has a nice sense of humor, which went a very long way in making me feel at ease and this process more comfortable. Outside of a few minor miscommunications and misunderstandings, Dr. Schweitzer's office staff was thorough, informative and friendly. Dr. Schweitzer emphasized and outlined a good structured aftercare plan, and the risks of surgery were addressed both on the web site and with me persoally. He has offered me the support and much valuable infoirmation, so I could understand what it is that I need to do to take good care of myself. Overall, I would rate Dr. Schweitzer as an excellent surgeon. His bedside manner and surgical skills have impressed me a great deal

I WAS VERY IMPRESSED WITH HIM AND HIS STAFF. I AM REALLY JUST STARTING OUT. BUT HIS STAFF WORKED VERY HARD AT GETTING MY INSURANCE COMPANY TO APPROVE THE SURGERY. I AM TO SEE A DIETITIAN AND PSYC TOMORROW. HE MADE ME WELL AWARE OF THE SURGICAL RISKS. I HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED HIS BEDSIDE MANNER BUT I HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF CONFIDENCE IN SURGICAL COMPETENCE.

I found staff, from the house keeping and dietary straight up through the med techs, nursing, OT, PT and doctors to be very helpful, always courteous, patient, friendly, and encouraging.

I would recommend Dr. Schweitzer to everyone. His office and surgical staff are all wonderful. My recovery has even surprised me, 7 days post op I felt as if nothing had even happened. I had been looking into having the surgery done by several doctors over several states. I happened to change PCP in 9/03 who was returning to work from having had the surgery herself. She was very supportive of the surgery but strongly recommended I find a surgeon in MD. She referred me to Dr. Schweitzer and suggested I visit his website. She also said not to expect an appointment for several weeks. I went online to the site, sent an email of my interest in the surgery, had a call from Merry the next day and had a consult with Dr. Schweitzer the next Monday (3/1/04). I also was taken aback by his youthful appearance but was quickly impressed with his professionalism (and surgical history). He told me at the consult that there was a support group mtg the following tuesday where I could meet the psychiatrist, dietician and nurse practioner. I attended, was impressed by everyone and was able to get the phone #'s I needed that night for my dietician and psych eval. I met with the dietician on 4/8/04, Merry sent all of my paperwork on 4/15/04 to the insurance comapany and I got a letter in the mail 4/17/04 that I had 45 days to complete the few things they wanted. I had to change psychiatrists due to the 45 day time limit. My psychiatrist saw me twice and gave me a release on 5/25/04. I faxed the psych eval on 5/25 to the ins. co and Merry called me 2 days later with an approval, but I had to have the surgery within a 60 day period of approval. We scheduled a date of 7/30/04 but Merry called me on 6/26/04 and asked if I could move the date up. So, on 7/23/04 I had the lap RNY surgery. The whole time Merry answered every question I had emailed or phoned her with. Even Dr. Schweitzer responded to an email I sent him the next day.

Dr. Schwweitzer is a very experienced bariatic surgeron -- helped write the book.

Considering how complicated and intense the surgery is, he's the man.

Most of the nurses I had were very unprofessional. I had my light on for HOURS for help with getting up to go to the Bathroom. I had my light on for HOURS to get somebody to put those compression boots back on my legs(to prevent blood clots) because after I waited for HOURS to get some help to the bathroom the nurse who "helped" me back to bed was nowhere near helpful in getting me hooked back up to everthing and comfortable. It was AWEFUL!!!!!

I can not say enough about the care that I received by the nurses, techs and other staff at Hopkins. They were very social and compassionate to me and my needs.
I send Great thanks to the attending physicans who saw me in Dr Schweitzers absense. A enormous thank you to Jennifer, Natasha. Jackie Philameno, Stephanie, Sherrile and especially Martine for being there to help me. Martine went above and beyond to not only assist me but a friend who had surgery the same day. She did not receive the excellent care that I did in the beginning, Thanks to Martine that changed quickly. It is nice to know that everyone seemed to enjoy their job and not just the paycheck.

Thank you all!

I met with Dr. Schweitzer on June 28th after waiting for Dr.Roe to start his surgeries again Dr. Schweitzer knows his stuff I was definatly impressed. His staff is wonderful. I can't say enough about Merry, she is wonderful!!!!!

My first impression of Dr. Schweitzer was that he is a bit brusk and to-the-point, but not unpleasant. Dr. Schweitzer only does bariatric surgery and has so many patients in various stages of the process,initially I felt he sometimes distanced himself a little too much from me. In hindsight though, he has gatekeepers who do a good job of answering routine questions and will take more difficult questions to him. He expects that you visit his webite www.smallscar.com before you consult with him and that you have done your homework about the surgery and about the required aftercare, which is spelled out in his website. In fact, the forms you need for surgery are in the website and must be filled out prior to your consultation. Pat is his Physician's Assistant (PA) and Merry Doss is his secretary. They are the "gatekeepers" of his time and attention, which any surgeon as busy as he is would have to have. Both are pleasant and warm people, and Pat is good at taking care of you too. They both have e-mail and I never had an issue with not getting a reply either on the phone or by e-mail. He's not a real hand-holder type and makes no apologies for it. In fact, the closest he came to being "tender" with me was a post-op visit the day after surgery, but that might have been the morphine too.( LOL) As for my surgery, I have no complaints. I came sailing through with no leaks, no complications, minimal discomfort, etc. He operates out of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical in Baltimore and has a complete program of pre-surgery visits with psychologist and nutritionist. I did not have any co-morbidities so I did not require any pre-surgery treatments. He has an aftercare program including a regular group meeting, Tuesdays, I believe, but I am 3 hours away from the hospital and so do not attend. I am scheduled to meet with him every three months for one year. And with the nutritionist, Ashli, three times as well.


I asked him point-blank if he had ever lost a patient and he said yes, but added that he was trying to undo another surgery that was botched on a weakened patient. He didn't sweep it aside, he was straightforward, but you could see it bothered him. I think it was the loss of the patient, not the question that troubled him. We then discussed that poor outcomes do happen, even death, but they were often related to co-morbities (extreme diabetes, previous heart attacks, previous poor medical conditions) and extreme morbid obesity (BMI's in the 60's and above) but even so any surgery is a risk.

Let me stop here and say that I believe with all my heart if you are not using a surgeon who does only bariatric surgery, you are shortchanging yourself. Too many docs are trying to do this surgery who don't have the bariatric background and specialization like Dr. Schweitzer and others like him have. And if you do your homework, you will find that many "poor outcomes" are tied to those generalized docs trying to pull off this very technically challenging surgery. Okay. Down off the soapbox.

Overall, I think you cannot top Dr. Schweitzer's technical competence, but touchy-feely he is not and demands his patients be as educated about the WLS choice as is possible. If you are not willing to do the work to educate yourself, I think you will find him very off-putting. But when I literally put my life in his hands he was no-nonsense -- just what I want in a surgeon. Just don't expect Patch Adams.