"I wanted to warn people that if you are going through UMASS for WLS- watch out for Dr. Mitchell Gipken. He is a nasty, horrible man who, because of his hostility and rudeness towards me, probably cost me years of my life. If he was nice to any of you, great – if you haven’t met him yet, kiss his ass, because as my DR put it – he is the ‘gatekeeper’ to any surgery there. My Dr who is encouraging me to get WLS to improve the quality of my life and probably extend it, asked me incredulously what did I ‘do’ to Dr. Giptken because he was so hostile about me. The truth be told I did nothing except for tell him that I will have this surgery and he would not stop me. I offended his ego because he put out all of the stops to stop me – tried to embarrass me in front of my DR – who thank GOD is very supportive of me. Now I am going to try to go through Boston Hospitals instead of my more convient Worcester – I realy wanted Dr. Kelley’s expertise. My shame was that I did let that man stop me for three years but am finally on track and commited to getting the WLS. These blogs are helpful and supportive and I vow to track my progress for others to learn from. My problem is that I was just short of the required BMI of 35 (with co-morbities) and was actually encouraged to gain weight!! I can’t believe the hypocrisy in that when my insurance company keeps insisting that they will pay because it is medically necessary. I want the LAPBAND and know that it will be a tool to save my life – it is just getting to a surgeon that is the problem. Has anybody had a similar experience???"
