Steven Patching Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

Dr. Patching is very hard on his pre-op patients. He wants you to exercise 4xweekly, start cutting calories, and wants you to know as much about the surgery as possible. His office staff is great, I have called aleast once a day with questions. Jamie is very patient and does all she can to help.
His office is very neat and clean.
He seems to have respect for this surgery, as he says "This is messing with mother nature."
My advice to anyone looking for a surgeon for anytype of surgery is to like this person. You are putting you're LIFE into their hands. Make sure this person is right for YOU.

Personable. Didn't play God the doctor. Is knowledgable, enthusiastic about the roux en y operation. Provides lots of information including spending quite a bit of time on risks. Wants clients to lose weight (in my case about 20 pounds) before surgery to demonstrate commitment, facilitate surgery, and develop habits to continue after surgery. He wants his patients to join either the Sutter Medical Center weight loss center or some structured weight loss program. However, he did accept me working with my internist (who specializes in clinical nutrition and weight issues) to lose the weight. I thing what he really wants is a physician supervised weight loss approach before the surgery. His office staff is friendly & responsive What I liked least was being lectured at when I hadn't been exercising as much as I ought, even though I had continued to lose weight. I know it is for my own good, but I hate being lectured at by anyone (and am probably most sensitive about this issue....) So far he hasn't emphasized after care per se, except to stress the need to continue w/healthful, minimal eating habits and the absolute need for exercise -- forever! Stresses that the operation is a tool only, not a cure. Overall, takes a reasonable, sensible approach. Is particularly impressed with the health benefits resulting from the operation. Does laperascopic operations only, although, would, once they were in, do a full abdominal operation if he had to. So far he has not mentioned a structured aftercare program. I suspect he expects his patients to continue in the weight loss program they enrolled in prior to surgery, expecting the structure of those programs to provide the aftercare support necessary. The way he addressed the risks of surgery was to sit down and identify them, item by item, and discussing the likelihood and ultimate risk of each, including death. Overall all, I would rate him as very good to excellent. We will see when the surgery is completed. He doesn't give as much information as I would like about diet, etc. He says it is still too individual with this patients to be able to generalize yet. He stresses, however, that the patients that lose weight & exercise ahead of time have very successful post-op experiences. That indeed has been my experience.

I first met Dr. Patching at a seminar last fall in Sacramento. I had to wait for my insurance with HealthNet to become effective before I could see him, so my appt. wasn't until 2/6/01. My husband and I were very comfortable with him. He asked me to decrease the amount of carbohydrates and increase the amount of protein I'm eating. He also wants me to swim laps 4 times a week. I was already doing some swimming before I had my appt with him.

I have an appt. with Dr. Hopkins on 3/14/01 and then another appt. with Dr. Patching on 3/27/01. He even gave me a tentative surgery date of 4/25/01. We will be going over the risks of surgery and more detailed information about the surgery at my next visit.

I would rate Dr. Patching a 10++++. He listened to what I had to say and answered my questions. He gave my husband time to ask his questions also. I felt such reassurance that this was going to be a start of a whole new way of living and that I was a very good candidate for the surgery. He basically told me to kick it into gear these next couple of months and keep thinking about how my loosing weight by eating better and exercising would just make it that much easier for him to perform the surgery.

He shared with me and my husband that he has a personal interest in helping morbidy obese patients. But I think that's a little morsel that I'll keep as a confidence between me and my surgeon at this time.

Dr. Patching is a very kind man.
I thought that I might feel uncomfortable.
NOT! He was very friendly and didn't treat
me as another patient.
Dr. Patching answered all my questions
and made sure that I had a full
understanding of everything.
His staff greeted me as I came in the door
with a smile. And I call there alot! So,
they're very patient and take
time to listen to me.
Doctor Patching makes sure that before you
leave that you understand that having this
surgery requires effort on your part as well.
Like proper exercise and dieting.
I would overall rate him so far a 10+.

10/09/00?
I saw Dr. Hopkins, who's in charge of the weight manage-
ment team for Sutter. He was a nice man, though
he seemed hurried. He said that I would need
a psych evaluation, an appointment with the
"exercise guy", and the dietician. So, I guess
I'm on my way!
LOL
Lisa

10/25/00
Well, I saw the Dietician. She was okay. Either
she doesn't enjoy her job or the PEOPLE she
works with. So , I won't be seeing her again.
I meet with Dr. Patching on the 13th of November,
to go over everything before surgery. I'll keep
you posted!

Lisa ;o)

02/09/01
Hello there everyone!
GOD it's been forever. Things have been going really
great for me. I went back to college..yipee!!
And I haven't weighed myself for 3 weeks, but when
I did I was at 196lbs. YES!!!
I feel GREAT and everyday I am loving myself more
and more. I am actually in a size 16 and I can squeeze
in a fourteen if I hold my breath! lol ;o)
By the summer I hope to be at my first goal weight
of 150lbs and by next X-Mas I hope to be at the
official goal of 125lbs.

Wish me lots of LUCK!!
Good luck on everyones journey...
LOL
Lisa

I really liked Dr. Patching when I first met him. He told me I needed to start by losing some weight, which made a great deal to sense to me. He was not asking me to keep it off, and face it, we all are experts at losing some! Because I was interested in the lap procedure, it made sense to get some of the mass off. His office staff is very approchable, and always made me feel that they had time to answer my questions. He does push weight loss and exercise (I went from his office, to a health club and joined). I do not know at this point the aftercare, except that he is clear that this surgery is only a tool, I must take responsibility to exercise, change my eating habits. Again, having a friend who is now almost two years out has helped me see what I must do. In fact, we have traveled together several times! We will be discussing the surgical risks in length in a few weeks, meanwhile, I have researched this out at length and feel very informed.

Dr. Stephen Patching. I haven't met him yet. I called his office and his staff was very informative. He's a general surgeon. He does not have a whole lot of gastric bypass surgeries under his belt, but he is the #1 Laporoscopic surgeon in Sacramento. I was told he is extremely caring, personable and empathetic. He takes time getting to know his patients and sincerely cares for them. I can't wait to meet him and form my own opinions. Hopefully they're right on the money!


8/5/00 If anyone has the opportunity to meet with this man you will be impressed. He is very humble and realistic and he UNDERSTANDS about our pain. He is honest and caring and only wants what is best for you. He does not push you for or against it. He is a Medical professional with a heart and more Drs should follow his example. If anyone has any questions regarding Dr. Patching please feel free to email me.

I've met with Dr. Patching a couple of times. He's a nice guy. There is this matter of 30 lbs that he wants me to lose prior to scheduling the surgery. And it makes sense. So I'm working on that.

Dr Patching was great! His office is very professional
and his staff includes that personal touch.

In the begining Dr Patching was very serious with me about losing weight and at times hard on me, yet I realized the importance of this and as time
went on I liked him more. He is very honest and up front.

His office is very professional and clean, his staff was very helpful with getting my appointments and working with my
insurance to get everything moving.

I have no complaints...

From when I stepped into the hospital to the time I left, hospital nurses told me I was lucky to have Dr Patching and that he was the best.

Dr. Patching was available for any of my questions and gave me clear information after the surgery. He visited me often in the hospital and called me on
the weekend to check up on me.

I am not participating in any structured after care program.

He was very forward about the risks of surgery from day one.

I would give him an excellent rating... my surgery was only 2.5 hours long, I have not had any problems so far!

Dr. Patching would get a very high rating for surgical competence and bedside manner.