Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC Hospital

Dr Courcoulas is very professional, friendly, and amswered all of my questions honestly. rnShe has a lot of experience, which is what you really want in a surgeon. All of her office staff is as wonderful as she is, they took care of everything for me. Christi and Karen are wonderful, they always keep in touch with me and make me feel so important. Kelly is really wonderful, she gave me a physical and took care of me first appointment post op. What a wonderful crew there. Karen called me as soon as I got home from the hospital, I talk to her so much she calles me her newest best friend.rnrnIt is now 1/20/09 and three years since surgery, I have no complications and am doing wonderful becuse of Dr. Courcoulas. I have heard others having problems but my daughter (surgery (7/07) and myself are having no problems are down to goal weight and are having no problem maintaining.rnShe is the most wonderful surgeon in the area, really knows her business and really cares about her patients.

My first impression was that Dr. Hamad was very impressive and that she genuinely cared about me, as her patient. My impression has not changed over time. Dr. Hamad works in a group of other surgeons and has the friendliest, most knowledgeable and most responsive staff of any doctor I've visited. With respect to post-op diet, Dr. Hamad is a bit more restrictive than her colleagues but she is only concerned with her patients' success. Dr. Hamad strongly emphasizes aftercare. She (and her staff) have a very specific plan that they want patients to follow after surgery. The risks of surgery were addressed through a 6-month class beforehand (the class met once a month) and multiple office visits. She also gave me a lot of written material addressing the surgery. I think Dr. Hamad is fantastic. Both her surgical competence and bedside manner are great.

I have nothing bad to see about my surgeon. She is very patient and kind. I felt very comfortable with her from the moment I met her. She came in to pre-op to talk to me before the surgery and she knew that I had no family with me, so she took my mother's number down and called her after my surgery was completed. I was very thankful for that. She is very strict about what you can have after surgery and I need that in order to be a success. She came in to talk to me the last day of my stay at the hospital and she was very pleased with the outcome and my recovery. I thank God for her and her team, they did a wonderful job.

Dr. Courcoulas is very nice and sympathic. She's also very thorough in making sure you understand all that will take place during surgery.rnrnThe staff is extremely polite and very nice. You feel like you're a human being and not an animal as society likes to cast you.rnrnThis decision was the best one ever made and I highly recommend it to everyone thinking about it!

He was very informative and kind thoughout everything. His staff was even more helpful with every little question I had, they never seemed bothered to answer. There was nothing I disliked about Dr. Ramanathan. He is very frank though. On a scale of 1-10 he is deffinately a 10!!!!

Dr Courcoulas was very professional and very nice. She treated me with respect and took time to talk with me before and after surgery.

Dr. Anita Courcoulas, was an angel sent from the heavens. My first impression of her, she opened the door with a smile and introduced herself, a very soft-spoken, warm-heartedness filled the air. She explained both procedures to me, GBS and LBS. I made my decision for GBS. We went over the risks of the surgery and she answered my questions. It was the first time in my life I was in a doctor's office and didn't feel scorned for what the scale was tipping to. rnHer office staff was just like her, extremely nice, well-organized, and they truly care about you. rnI went into the pre-op room for surgery on September 3rd. I wasn't even nervous. I was so confident in her and her surgical team. I was so armed with all the knowledge of the procedures that I didn't feel the need to be scared or nervous.rnHer surgical competence and bedside manner were both great! Not to mention, she kept my parents very informed during the procedure, which was very important to me. She came in the day after surgery, between her surgeries to check up on how I was and introduced me to her colleague that will be helping her that particular week. She took a moment to speak with me and to tell me how well surgery went and she wanted to see how I was feeling and if I had any questions yet. rnI can truly say, I have nothing bad to say about Dr.Courcoulas and her team. It was a dream.

I fell that he is a wonderful Doctor. He explained the risk of the surgey very well to me.There was always some one to answer my questions or concerns.I would recomend him to any one who is thinking about weightloss surgey. His staff explained what i needed to do before surgey, and after surgery. They were there to answer my questions. His physican asst, Kelly is wonderfull, and also nurse Ellen. My experience overall was really good. And as far as the hospital staff nurses they could of been a little more helpfull as far as getting your pain meds to you a little quicker then they did. And they need to read your chart a little better, as in my case of my back problems and surgeries, which after this surgey my back pain was very bad due to havinging laid on the operating table for so long. Ellen the head nurse found out about my concerns and she had them adressed.

Dr. Courcoulas is very genuine. I had stayed away from doctor's in my life because they can be so condescending, but she is very caring and attentive. Both she and her office worked very hard to help me, and have been exceptionally patient. Sometimes it is hard to get an appointment, and sometimes its hard to get in contact with people in the office, but she is the director. I wouldn't change my decision at all. She's a godsend!

My mother had Dr Ramanthan for her surgeon in April 2007 , she liked him and his positive attitude. On the day of my mother's surgery, yhe surgery was running onger than expected due to a thickened stomach wall (we later found out) , Dr Ramanathan spoke directly to my dad and myself and was polite, answered questions and assured us that the surgery went good and she would be fine. I appreciated him taking the time to meet with us directly and not sending an \"assistant\" out to talk to us. I also,selected Dr Ramanathan for my upscoming surgery on Sept 9,2008 , both times that I have met with him thru this process, he has been patient with any questions I have had, smiling, kind, a good sense of humor and also seems to relate well to his patients and staf, who attention to detail. I will update this Pre-Op! Wish me Luck!