James Weber Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

First saw Dr Weber at the required group session on July 9th. I actually waited a month to call and make an appt because I was actually looking into a different surgeon. After seeing
the other surgeon, I made the call to Weber's office the following monday morning.
I had my first consult on Sept 28th. I liked him immediately. Am even more confident of my choice. I also had a very good experience with Pam.
Nothing negative to say about her at all. She was very friendly with me.
Update: Well, that was the only time she has been nice to me, has been rude and abrasive and uninformative ever since. This is very frustrating knowing that you've already been approved, and all that needs to be done is the change of surgeons on the authorization.It is now almost 7 weeks since my initial consult, and as of this morning, the info still has not been recvd by the insurance, I tried to call Pam, and was rudely told that she already faxed it. She pretty much refused to fax again, but I persisted. She sd she will re-fax, but my confidence is gone. I just dont know what to do anymore. I'm actually beginning to believe that this will never happen.

Dr. Weber has been really helpful throughout the whole process, and I am fast becoming one of his success stories. His office staff is too busy sometimes but all of them work hard and do a good job, especially Lisa and Edie. They always remember who I am and they get big points from me for that. I hate having to tell the same story over and over again. Dr. Weber's aftercare materials are unfortunately, very poor. The pre-op testing that he requires includes nutritional counseling, which I found helpful, but I wish he would update those materials... they actually talk about stomach stapling! Oy vey! Still, I think I put myself in the hands of an excellent surgeon, and five weeks later, I'm down 40 lbs and have had few problems.

Dr. Weber seems to be very competent. My husband feels very comfortable with our choice.

The staff seems to be a bit rushed, but that to a degree is understandable.

His patients are required to take a physcological evalutation. I've "bought" the tests required. More than 700 questions to answer and return. I feel as though my intelligence has been insulted. But "I gotta do what I gotta do to get where I gotta get"


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I attended a general meeting which gave me a packet of presurgical information and required work-ups. His staff was very organized and very friendly. He has a good rapport with people who of currently seeing him. He was very approachable and open to questions and was very willing to work with patients. He is very conservative and explained why...and his results are evident in very low percentage of complications. I plan to see him personally in July..he won't see patients until he has all of the information...I'm impressed..he doesn't waste your time.
My second imperssion of him wasn't so good. His office could not find where I had attended his general meeting and told me that I could not make an appointment to see him until they found my name on the sign in list. I was ok to attend again - my husband wanted to attend. When I asked his nurse how long I would could expect to wait before surgery, since I had everything else done - she asked me what I was eating and was I exercising. She was rude. You know I want the surgery and from Dr. Weber bad enough I decided that it would be ok to swallow. Normally I would have said something sarcastic. I find that I am very serious about this.
After working on the getting all my ducks in a row for several months, I finally had an appointment with Dr. Weber. He wanted me to choose the VBG and was not as warm and fuzzy as I expected. I think I was just scared that he'd tell me that I couldn't have the surgery and I agreed to the VBG because it was what he wanted and what my husband wanted.Dr. Weber was helpful, telling me that I was probably going to be self-pay and that Steven's Hospital was less expensive than Swedish Hospital. He assured me that the facility was used to him and familiar with the needs of the morbidly obese.
It turns out that I connections with his receptionist, which certainly helped put me at ease and she was very helpful in getting all required papers together. Dr. Weber insists on exercise with his patients. I didn't know how I was going to do it but he assured me that I could do 30 minutes a day, walking on my treadmill. I started at 7 minutes and now I can walk 30! I'm sure that the reason he is so sucessful is that he demands compliance with the program - exercise - which will help me with my total well being and a very strict blended diet to promote solid healing of my stomach. I have total faith in him as a surgeon and he has a excellent reputation for being a caring man and skilled surgeon. I'd rather him be an excellent surgeon...but the caring side sure is comforting when you are so scared.

Dr. Weber is very informative, he has a concern for people that have weight problems. He has a great personality! He is very clear on the risks of the surgeries. He will answer any questions one has, the good, bad and ugly of them.
I had my surgery on November 14th.
Dr Weber has a great bedside manner. He came in to see how I was doing daily. I feel he is a wonderful surgeon, and felt very comfortable with his abilities.
You must go to his seminar and listen, ask questions, etc.. He has one once a month. Just when picking a surgeon, you must first feel he is right for you before going on.
I have done well in the weight loss and feel great! I rate him, and his office a 10!

Dr. Weber was great through the immediate post-op period. He visited me every day, was helpful, and was always cheerful. He even went to lunch with my husband and the anesthesiologist right after my op so my husband learned more about the surgery than he otherwise would have. I continue to be VERY pleased with my choice of surgeons and would not have done it any other way.

09/01/01: Lisa was great when scheduling my surgery. It is SO hard to be patient but I think the office staff generally does a good job, though a bit more communication might keep folks like me off their backs a bit more. I am going to suggest that they start using email more. I would have LOVED that kind of contact!
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08/17/01: Edie continues to be super-helpful. Pam continues to be difficult. She talked to the RN handling my paperwork at 10:05am because the psych eval had not been sent with the other papers and still hadn't done anything about it at 3:30 that afternoon. She claimed that Dr. Weber's office had never gotten it, but I *know* that's not true, because Edie said it was a "favorable report"! I am going to continue with them though because I know Dr. Weber is the best surgeon in our area, and that's what really matters. My life will be in HIS hands, not Pam's! :-)
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08/08/01: Well, I am a bit frustrated. Pam faxed my insurance approval request to the normal contact she uses for Aetna but that is not the right way to do it for *Microsoft* Aetna coverage so they haven't even logged it yet. She's going to humor me by faxing it to the number I gave her even though she thinks it's not necessary. Edie continues to be very helpful.
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May entry: Dr. Weber's staff, especially Edie, have all been excellent... friendly and intelligent, if very busy. Dr. Weber strikes me in much the same way, and I can certainly deal with that. I don't mind it if people are busy and in a rush as long as they pay attention to me and our conversation when I'm talking to them. His aftercare program looks great and I have no problem with his insistence on exercise. He's clear about WHY he wants you to do the things he wants you to do, and that really helps me see it as a positive step for me instead of irrational punishment. My first one on one consultation with him is June 22 and I'm sure I'll have more to say about him then, but so far, I'm impressed. I do wish that their packet was a little higher quality, and that they would include a FAQ listing, because it would save a lot of time during the in-service session.

My husband and I met with Dr. Weber several months ago. We were happy to both agree he was the right person to do my surgery. Pam in the doctor's office turned in my insurance on July 20th today August 20 I got the approval. Pam has been wonderful! She has been helpful and always pleasant! I only talked to Lisa once she was nice and so was Edie when I first started this journey. Dr Weber has a good aftercare program! Soon very soon I will have a date.

I found out about Dr. Weber by doing a search on the American Society for Bariatric Surgery website @ http://www.asbs.org/. I visited one of his introductory seminars and really learned a lot about the surgery. He answered a lot of questions, was very honest and upbeat and left me feeling very positive about the surgery. The nurse that assisted him was very informative as well.

Dr. Weber has very stiff pre-op requirements. It took me about 6 months to get through all of those. They include a psychiatric review and several sessions, unltrasound of gallbladder, blood tests, Physical, etc. Through the process I found that I have severe sleep apnea (I stop breathing 111 times per hour and go 9% of the night without oxygen). On my insurance policy I have a $1100 (per family member) maximum out of pocket expense each year. By the time I had finished all of the pre-op tests and Dr. visits I had already paid my $1100 in deductibles. This is nice since the surgery will not basically be free (based on some of the insurance company experiences I've read on this site I guess I'm lucky).

Dr. Weber mentioned that he has had one death as a result of his bariatric surgery. From his explanation it sounded as though it was out of his control though since the woman refused to come in for a post-op visit and ended up dying from a blood clot.

Overall I feel confident in his ability to successfully perform the surgery. He said that he has performed over 2000 of the surgeries and he did a good job explaining the risks and letting me know what to expect. He also seems to have a very structured post-op plan.

Dr. Weber also seems to be very cautious. He requires an 8 week liquid diet post-op rather than a 2 week liquid diet which seems to be the norm.

My biggest (and I guess only) gripe with Dr. Webber is actually his office staff. I'm not talking about his nurse as she was nice. I've had to deal a lot with his office staff though as I've tried to get my insurance company approval taken care of. In dealing with them I've gotten the impression that they aren't very willing to take the time to help me. For example, at one point they told me that I hadn't submitted the paperwork for all of my pre-op requirements (the information necessary for insurance company pre-approval). Though all of the information had already been sent in (the office lost some of the paperwork) the staff initially refused to take the time to look through my file and tell me what was missing (so that I could have it re-faxed in). I didn't get a lot of help from the staff when it came to the insurance company itelf either. I ended up calling Beechstreet (the company that does the pre-authorizations for United Health Care) myself to explain what procedure I was going to have and request pre-authorization because the staff wouldn't do it.

Aside from this frustration I my actual visits with Dr. Weber were very positive and beneficial and I still am looking forward to my surgery next month.

my first impression of dr.weber was that he was very cocky. but i told myself that i don't have to like him, as long as he is a good surgeon. well, he didn't turn out to be even that (in my opinion). i was supposedly his "first" bowel leak. almost died. spent a month in the hospital, until they could get my temp under 102. it had gotten as high as 105. spent the second month in bed at home, with drain tubes hanging out of me. every time i see weber, he does not remember me, i have to refresh his memory! you would think being his "first" bowel leak, he would remember that. he never reads my file before entering the room. i have to tell him the whole story every time i go in. considering the fact that i almost died, it really pisses me off that he does not even know who i am. i realize he has thousands of patients, but you would think you'd remember the ones that almost died. i have one more appt. w/him to reach my 1 yr. of follow up, then i will be looking for a new doctor. his staff in ballard were snappy, and short on the phone, and were not at all good about returning phone calls. i will say thought, that in person, they were very friendly. his staff in edmonds, on the other hand, has always returned calls, and is always friendly. i also always feel as if i'm being rushed out of his office. i think i usually get all of 5 minutes, and always leave with questions unanswered. i do have a problem with people who don't look you in the eye when speaking to you. dr. weber is one of those people. this should have been my first clue about his character. HINDSIGHT!!