Weight Management and Metabolic Center - Columbia Hospital

Dr Richardson is very informative and knowledgeable. Very Personable. I enjoyed our meeting. I feel confident in his skills. He had done 600 lap rny's and never lost a patient.

I've been very pleased with my choice of Dr Richardson, he has a very good bedside manner and takes the time to answer all my questions. He does laproscopic which is why I picked him.

The one thing I wish was different is that he is only in St Louis on Tuesdays for appointments.

After your surgery you will be seen in the hospital by another Dr and not Dr Richardson since he is there only on the one day.

If I had it to do over again I would pick him again, I feel it was due to his competence that I have had no problems post-op!

I first saw Dr. Richardson at an information meeting for the Newstart Center for Surgical Weight Reduction. He gave a presentation about the RNY procedure and at the end opened the floor for any questions. I did not speak to him on this night other than to ask questions but, I thought the presentation was great. It includes slides and he basically went over all of the logistics for the procedure. It was pretty straight forward. He seemed very friendly and open to any questions. He wasn't afraid to admit when he didn't know the answer to a question (I asked why the lower stomach that is separated during surgery doesn't get hungry?). He just seemed very confident in the procedure. He showed no doubts in the ability of anyone to lose weight with this procedure. His confidence in his skills and the procedure was a reassuring to me.
My first impression of Dr. Richardson as an honest and straight forward person held true after meeting him for my pre-op consult in his office. He doesn't mess around he is very friendly but, he gets right to the point. He seemed to know what he was doing. My appointment was so quick I really don't have an opinion of the office staff. I was in and out. That's the way I like it.
Dr. Richardson has a whole team of people to help with this procedure through Newstart. He is pretty open about the fact that his specialty is the actual surgery and the nutrition counseling is done by a nutritionist and the insurance/temporary disability paperwork is handled by a nurse who specializes in that. I like that. Everyone does what they are good at and in the end your are completely taken care of.
The aftercare through newstart includes a geniune offer from the nutritionist to call her any time we have questions. She insists that she is strictly there for WLS patients and it's her job. I would not hesitate to call her if I had a question. The program also has a full calendar of support groups for those interested in the surgery, those who have have had it and their families.
Overall, I would recommend Dr. Richardson to anyone. I feel fine physically and had no problems at all after the procedure. I beleive surgical competence is definately the most important aspect in a provider. I can live with my feelings being hurt but, I want my guy to know what he is about when he is cutting and stitching on my guts. Fortunately, I was able to have both the surgical competence and a good bedside manner in Dr. Richardson.

I haven't met him personally yet but I had a great time with him at the Newstart meeting and he gave us tons of information and he has such an awsum personality and sense of humor. I can't wait to meet with him one on one and really get a feel for his bedside mannor. I have a feeling I will not be dissapointed!

I went to Dr N. Richardson at St Alexius hospital.
He was great! He explained everything to me and
made sure if he could not see me another Dr would. I had
4 or 5 Dr's came to see me in the hosp. I had no problems with surgery
or recovery. I would recommend him.

He and all the surgeons in his group are very nice, informative, and professional.

Dr. Richardson's office staff went out of their way to help me with any questions or needs that I had.

I would recommend Dr. Richardson to anyone seeking to have bariatric surgery.

My first impression of Dr. Richardson's staff was excellent. They were helpful and very kind. He was wonderful and helpful when I met him. His office was very clear on risks and what should occur afterwards. I'm only 3 days post op but he was wonderful and I have little to no pain. I would recommend him and his staff to anyone who is concidering this surgery. My sister is actually thinking about having the surgery, and she has contacted Dr. Richardson's office. I wouldn't recommend him to my sister if he wasn't top rate.

I went to another New Start Seminar on Dec. 9th 2003 because Dr. Richardson was the presenter.

Dr. Richardson spent some time with me, because I was the only one that showed up because of the weather and the wrong address on the flyer. Dr. Richardson was good enough to go thru the whole presentation for just me.

He is very knowledgeable and caring. Dr. Richardson , Dr. Scott and Dr. Del a Torre have been doing Lap RNY since 1997. There is always two Doctor in surgery. Between the 3 Doctors, they have done over 2000 Lap RNYs. At present, they are doing 45 to 50 per week. They have this surgery down pat so well, it only takes 1 to 1 1/2 hour for this surgery. They have not lost a patient in 5 or 6 years, which brings their death rate much lower than the National Average of 1%.

Dr. Richardson said, 90% to 95% of his patients go home the second day!!!


Dr. Richardson also says, their rate of complication after surgery is way below the National Average because over 6 years they have found the best ways to prevent most complications from ever happening.

All thought I have not had surgery yet, I feel very confident in the Doctors from New Start and Dr. Richardson.

Housekeeping was poor. Repeated complaint about cold temperature (below zero outside) got no response until surgeon visited and he complained. Even then, repairman said he could not fix and nurses were extremely reluctant to change me to another room, although I was running a fever, sweating and freezing.

Dr. Richardson seems very nice. I have only since him once but he is very informative.
At first I was very exicted and he seemed to be very calm and talked alot about the surgery and the different types. Everyone on his staff were very nice. They talk to me and made me feel welcome. The only thing I noticed is that he talk very fast. If you had a question he would tell you.
Everyone is very nice. He got in and told you like it was and then drew a picture of what the new stomach would like. We really didnt go in to aftercare talk. He does have a aftercare program. He did also talk about risks of surgery. Yes it was very scary thinking about dying and having your stomach explode. But its a small %.
Overall, He seems very good and seems to no what he is doing. both