Question:
How long do you see the doctor (surgeon)?

I have just been informed that my year of seeing the surgeon for checkups and encouragement has been stopped. I have been told to call my primary and see if they can extend the time but I am not at goal yet and I want to at least see him until I get that far. Any other people been terminated?    — Janie H. (posted on January 16, 2003)

January 16, 2003
My surgeon requires 2 week, 6 mo., 1 year, 2 year, then every 2 years after that. If you have no other visits with your surgeon, is he still available for your primary Dr. to talk to if needed? I would think that some sort of communication should remain there.
   — Dana B.

January 17, 2003
Were you terminated with your surgeon because of insurance? If so, you will have to take that up with your PCP if you need a referral. Luckily, my insurance doesn't require a referral for specialists, so I can go as much as I want. My surgeon considers his bariactric patients his patients for life. He has treated me for a couple of non-surgical related problems because he was concerned about the medication that the other doctors were giving me. Actually, in one case, they weren't treating an infection aggressively enough and he hospitalized me and gave me IV antibiotics for 36 hours til the infection started to abate. By the way, the infection was in the jaw and was caused by a leak in a crown on a tooth. Not exactly what you thing a general surgeon would treat and it really confused some of the nurses. My point is that he will treat a lot of different problems and he works very closely with other doctors. In my case, he is 3 hours from where I live so he doesn't have a relationship with the local docs.
   — Patty_Butler