Christiana Institute of Advanced Surgery (CHRIAS) Hospital

Dr. Peters is the utmost best doc I've ever dealt with. My surgery ran late on Monday Jan 26, 2015. Dr. Peters personally apologized for it. Checked on me both days after surgery and was shocked that I was up, moving around, getting in fluids as I was told to do. He called me a "rockstar"..... He's the rockstar. Dr. Peters has giving me my life back. It's up to me what I do with the tool he gave me.

Once I went to the info session, I pretty much had my mind made up. Dr. Irgau did a good job of making everyone feel comfortable and answered as many questions as we had, despite the level of question.
Once I had my consultation visit I was able to ask him questions more specific to my case.
Disclaimer: I don't need to feel warm and fuzzy with my doctor. I do most of the research on my own and then ask the doctor for clarification on certain issues.
With that being said, after you've met with the Doctor for your initial consult, things move very quickly. Chrias gives you a bunch of appointments that are just about impossible to navigate since you won't have firm dates. The appointments are with different doctors and need to occur in certain time frames. Chrias could have done a much better job with that part. Perhaps a road map with everything you need to do for your insurance would have been much better. Once you get with PMRI, you have a much better idea of what's going on. So, expect to feel like what in the world just happened once you leave your initial consult. Also, you may not see Dr. Irgau again until your endoscopy.
To be honest the whole thing reminds me of the term "fat farm". There are so many people in the sessions that you realize just how many patients he has at any given time. In order to handle the case load you have to be efficient.
Half the time did I feel like he was giving me that weird look you get when someone knows you, but doesn't know where they know you from? Yes. Did I feel like my pockets were getting fleeced by PMRI and chrias? Yes. Did I feel like Dr. Irgau has learned that the secret to earning top pay as a doctor these days is efficiency and volume? Yes. Did I believe that Optifast was a ripoff or at least able to be done at a much more reasonable price? Yes.
My point is that some of these may be accurate or not, but the end result was I wanted to save my life. I realized that was more important. Since Dr. Irgau is definitely one of the most experienced bariatric surgeons in Delaware, perhaps the entire country, I assumed he probably was not going to kill me in the OR. You know how some surgeons see their patients each day after the surgery while they're still in the hospital? Well, I was actually quite surprised when I saw him the morning of my discharge. He's very confident in what he's doing and, more importantly, knows what he's doing. That's what's important to me. He is a vehicle to help me get to where I want to be in my life and I am a vehicle to his beach home or his retirement or whatever. This is America and I would expect nothing less. Dr. Irgau did his job. I woke up in less pain than I've ever experienced after a surgery. When you consider the complexity and the location of the surgery, this is amazing. I feel great, and I'm starting to realize this is probably the best decision I've ever made for my life.
To be honest, I cheated every step of the way. I didn't exclusively eat/drink optifast, I didn't totally follow the dietitian's orders, I slacked off my exercise program. I reasoned that they know we (fat people) got here for a reason, so they don't expect us to be perfect, but I did try. And, I would have tried harder if I had to do it over again, but I'm extremely happy about where I am right now and that's very largely(no pun intended) due to Dr. Irgau, along with everyone else who helped me through this journey. Hopefully this helps you start yours. I would recommend Dr. Irgau to anyone that is a candidate for gastric bypass weight loss surgery.

Dr. iragau was very pleasant to meet and talk to the first time I met him. He explained everything out in detail. I would recommend him to everyone who is considering WLS. My mother and my boss have both had the Gastric Bypass surgery and are doing great! My surgery date is January 14th. It is approaching fast! I'm anxious and nervous but I have a fantastic support team to help me all the way!

I was very nervous when I went to see Dr. Peters for the first time to discuss WLS. MY partner was completely against it. Dr Peters came in and we talked for what seemed like hours. He was very caring,and listened to all her concerns. He is a great surgeon and after the meeting she was fine. She feels very comfortable with him. I know I am going to have a great outcome with this great tool that I have been given a chance at. I am looking forward to him performing my surgery in September. Thank you Dr Peters for everything.

My first visit with Dr Irgau was blessed. I say blessed because, even though he was late getting out of the OR, he took all the time I needed to get comfortable with the decision to have Gastric Bypass. He has a great personality that immediately puts you at ease.

Dr. Irgau is the worst surgeon I ever came across. He idd my surgery in 2011. In fact the entire experience with CHRIAS was awful. They have no consideration as to a patients time, I normally wait over a hour every visit to see the doctor and the last time I demanded my co-pay back because I had to return to work, they told me I would have to pay a cancellation fee. Plus every-time I spoke to him he told me to go on the optifast diet that I would have to purchase at CHRIAS. I switched to a better practice and since have had such a better experience.

He did my band surgery and I stayed with him for a few years. However once I voiced my concerns with my dissatisfaction of his practice he yelled at me and dropped me as a patient. My story can be read further on my profile page. This practice has turned into a bariatric Mill that is all about the money. Which doesn't care about patient satisfaction, customer service or professionalism, Just book as many patients as possible because there time is not as valuable as a doctors time, sell patients as much marked up products as possible, and who cares regarding the patients experience because the patients don't matter only the doctors opinions matter.

The program with PMRI also is ridiculous, its run like a Nazi concentration camp. They take patient feedback and uses it against them. Don't dare tell anyone how you feel at Chrias or PMRI, they will either drop you or not allow you to complete there course. They don't want feedback they want positive feedback. They don't run or offer there own support groups because they have failed at there attempts to get them going and don't take feedback very well. There are plenty of better options out there like Barix clinic, get this the doctor gives you his cell phone number so you can contact him anytime, wow imagine that a doctor who wants to have satisfied customers.

Dr. Wynn taught me so much. She took the time to explain each surgery option and she even drew out visuals to help me understand. She had numbers and stats to back up her arguments. She can talk about ANYTHING. I felt like I was speaking with a mentor when I was in her office.

I found Dr. Peters through my sister who she had as her WLS. I am truly happy to have him as my surgeon. He is very thorough and caring. His office staff is very friendly. Look forward to having him perform my surgery.

Before selecting a surgeon I researched every detail I could find on their backround. Here in northern Delaware you are pretty much limited to one BS group. Fortunately all of thrre of the surgeons in the practice have stellar reputations. However, after reviewind each of them I decided to select Dr. Wynn. I have not been disappointed. While some people may feel she is somewhat aloof (at least from some comments I've seen posted) I found her to be very informative and responsive. I was immediately impressed by her. She did not push me to select a particular procedure but asked me what surgery I was considering and the reasons for selecting that procedure. She informed me of the negatives (short history of outcomes) but validating my reasonning and supported my decision. At the time of surgery, I was not the least bit apprehensive and had complete confidence in the skill of my surgeon. The aftermath of the surgery has been better than I expected. Finally, her approach to the pre and post surgery "diet" is very liberal and has made my journey much more tolerable than otherwise.