"At first I didn't like him. He was abrupt and I felt like he was just coaching me for the "right" answers in order to approve me and didn't really "care". It was very busy in his office (cattle call) so I'm sure he was tired of talking to people.
After that first visit and after I was pretty much approved, he was friendlier. I can understand how he wouldn't want to get "close" to a patient if they weren't going to get approved - you know, avoid all the "why whining", etc.
I was NOT happy with the majority of his office staff. The girls who you have to talk to on the phone were so unpleasant and unprofessional. His office manager was sympathetic to my feelings when I expressed written concern but I never did feel that it got any better after subsequent calls. They just don't seem to want to go beyond picking up the reciever to help you when you have valid questions.
The thing I liked least about Dr. O'Connell was that he contradicted me while I was in the hospital after a bad night of pain and a run in with the night nurse regarding my pain. If I'm in pain, no one knows the degree but me, and that nurse was trying to tell me I wasn't in that much pain and wouldn't call the anesthetist for a resolution until I practically broke down! Dr O'Connell wasn't concerned at all about her behavior or about my pain level. I was told in pre-op meetings that there was no reason for me to ever be in pain and to make sure I let someone know when I was experiencing more pain than normal - lotta good it did me -- NOT! I could have been clotting or worse but the nurse wasn't concerned in the least...
Future patients should know that he does these surgeries regularly and that he doesn't get very close to his patients but he will answer your questions, albeit in an abrupt manner.
He puts a great importance on office visit aftercare (the $200 cash fee he requires, which is refundable if you make all the appointments is a big incentive) but the support group is held late at night and because I live 2 hours away, I can't go to them.
The risk of surgery is clearly emphasised at the first visit and if you have concerns about it, he'll certainly address them to you if you ask.
He's a very competent surgeon and he does know what he's doing. I rate him 8-9 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 best).
I feel very strongly that surgical competence outweighs bedside manner, but both are intricately necessary for this procedure. As an obese person, I was very sensitive to the way people treated me as a "fat" person and it wasn't a good feeling. As a result of those feelings, I was on edge, nervous, anxious, and scared and I needed him to be more personable to me and I needed to feel like I was the only one he was seeing, not like a number, which is how I felt most of the time.
I realize he sees hundreds of patients and does this surgery so routinely, so he can't be friends with everyone and the procedure is no big deal to him, but the anxiety one experiences (we only go through it once!!) throughout this procedure is greatly underestimated by him and his staff.
I'm still happy I did this, but without my total personal commitment and singlular resolve (not to mention the support of my husband and family) I couldn't have done this based on the feeling I got from him and his office staff.
This is my personal opinion and does not in any way reflect the opinion of Obesityhelp.com toward this surgeon and his staff.
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