Daniel Baker Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

Dr. Baker is a very nice guy, I have met with him but briefly due to surgeries. His staff has been excellent, VERY nice and accomodating. I would as far recommend im in a minute!

Dr. Baker is very caring, and I felt at ease with him. He has 3 nurses that work with him that see patients. My nurse had the surgery done by Dr. Baker, so she understands what it is like to be obese and she understands my feelings about being overweight and how this surgery will change my life.

The staff for Dr Baker is extremely caring and sensitive. You are not a patient there, they honestly care about you. Dr Baker requires a pre-surgery weight loss, which tends to be hard for some and only does open RNY. Most hospital stays are 2 days. Has an aftercare support group, that unfortunately only meets in the metro area at this time, but they are working to make this program available in rural areas as well.

The first time I had contact with my surgeon was at his consultation meetings that are held monthly. I found him to be very professional with a very caring nature. I also got the impression that he takes his work very seriously and his patients welfare is number one priority. This surgeon requires that you lose 10% of however much you're overweight before he will do surgery. At first this was ver discouraging for me. I just kept thinking If I could lose weight i Wouldn't be here. Than after talking to his staff and other patients of his, I realized he does this because of the better results with the surgery. If you have a weight loss before surgery your organs shrink and it's easier for the surgeon to get in there and operate. It makes his work alot more precise, and with our organs shrinking a little, that helps as obviously the surgeon has to work around an extreme amount of fat! He also requires that if you're a smoker that you need to stop six weeks before surgery. Reasons for that are better success with anesthiology. Also there's less respiratory distress. So for these reasons I hold him in high reguard and know that my welfare is number one priority. He is very adamant about his rules, and if you are'nt williing to abide by them he will refer you to someone else. So it's nice to know he's not in it for the allmighty doller no matter what expense to the patient. His office staff are very kind, compassionate and professional. They go the extra mile to make sure they do everything in their power to help you get approved. Also there's a few of the staff that have had the surgery, so they know what everything is all about and what we are going through. The least thing I liked about him is the fact that you have to wait so long to see him and schedule a surgery date, as he has so many patients. Future patients should know what he requires of them before surgery and that he is adamant about his requirments. He also has many awards for his expertise in this field and also is the number one sought after bariatric surgeon in the state of MN.He emphasizes aftercare very strongly exspecially that first year following surgery. He wants to make sure that everything is going okay and that the patient is losing weight and is remaining in good health. With this surgery one can easily become malnourished if they don't follow their diet plan and take their vitamin supplements. He has a very structured aftercare program with support group meetings monthly. He is also starting them around the state for people who had to come for their surgery from out of town. Like myself, I live 150 miles away from the hospital that I will have the surgery. So they just started support groups up here where I live. They send someone from the clinic up to facilitate these meetings. This really helps to have this support system.The doctor was very frank about the risks of the surgery and explained them in great detail. He has a very low death rate out of his last 500 surgeries there had been no mortalities.Overall I would rate him an A+. I believe that surgical competence and bedside manner are both very important. But if I had to chose one over the other, obviously I would opt for the surgical competence! Luckily this doctor has both surgical competence and bedside manner that are excellent.on the negative side I feel that this surgeon should keep his patients in the hospital longer to recover. This surgeon only keeps you in the hospital for two days versues most of the other surgeons performing this surgery keep their patients in for five days. I feel strongly about this extra time to stay in the hospital and recover. Exspecially for those who are parents and have to go home to childeren! I think that being sent home in two days, could greatly increase your risk for complications post-op. This is my personal opinion, and others will argue the point that you are perfectly fine to go home after a couple of days, with family or not. I feel that we are all different individuals with different circumstances which need to be looked at on an individual basis. Maybe my surgeon does this, I don't know as I haven't had my surgery yet. Alls I know is that his patients typically stay in the hospital for two days, versues other surgeons requiring their patients to be in the hospital five days.

DR. BAKER
9/25 I went fro my pre-surgery consult and am even more secure in my choice of DR. Baker. He is kind and supportive and what more do you want!

5/01 My first impression of Dr. Baker was good. I had researched surgey pretty thoroughly before the informational meeting so I heard nothing new. He seems to be conservative in his approach stressing safety above all else. I have heard great things about his aftercare program which is why I investigated him.

I also went to introductory seminars for DR. RUPP and DR. SCHWARTZ. I decided on Dr. Baker because I wanted the RNY and I had heard such great things about him.

Very Nice.

N/A

Dr. Baker's office staff is EXCELLENT!

Nothing

Easy to talk to.

He wanted to make sure I read "the bible",
his book on the surgery.
Yes

At the informational meeting and also his nurse has.

Great, Excellent

Both are great.

I haven't had a consultation with Dr. Baker yet, but went to his informational meeting. He seems very gentle and straight-forward. I did meet with one of his nurses (Lisa) who was absolutely wonderful. I was very nervous, and she put me at ease right away. Everyone I've met there seems very nice, and very strict which is exactly what I need. 8/6/01-Met with Dr. Baker today. I was his last patient of the day and he seemed to be in a hurry, but he put me at ease about a lot of things and he answered all of my questions with humor and/or detail. I feel VERY comfortable having him as my surgeon.

My first impression of Dr. Baker was in an mandatory information meeting that you have to attend. I really got a good impression of him then. He explained the surgery really well and did not sugar coat any of the advantages and complications that having this surgery could have. He has the most wonderful staff. Anytime you have a question any of his staff with take the time to call you back to answer any of your questions of just to talk to you if you are having a bad day. I would rate them all at his office as exceptional and super understanding. He has a wonderful after care program. I have a three hour drive to see him but it is extremely worth it just to know how you are doing and to being able to talk to him and his staff. I would rate Dr. Baker as exceptional. His surgical competence, bedside manners are both exceptional. If anyone is looking at having WLS I would strongly suggest Dr. Baker. One thing that I do wish is that Dr Baker and his staff was available on the weekends because that is usually when problems do arise. Maybe they could have a message center that could take your call and each nurse could rotate on answering questions for patients. That is a suggestion that would help everyone.

I attended the informational session with Dr. Baker on 6/19. Dr. Baker and his staff are very helpful, and the session very informative. I'm waiting for insurance approval to set up a date with Dr. Baker.

Dr Baker was really nice. At the consult he asked if I had any questions listened to my heart and lungs then said I will see you on Aug 16th. I was a little sad because at first I didn't realize he meant that was my surgery date. When I finally caught on he was smiling. He also warned me not to have the 'last supper' because he would know at the surgery because my liver would be enlarged. Good thing he said that because I was planning on it. He also told me to stick with loosing weight prior to surgery. He said this will be that last time I will have to do this again in my life, because after the 16th of August I would have a tool to help. I really feel confident that he is the best there is and will take good care of me.