New self payer looking for Mexico surgeon

[Lydia]

I have read several peoples experiences with Dr. Esquerra and they are mostly good however like I said before I had one lady tell me to stay away from him. This is what my problem is. I am a member of several of these groups and everyone has there opinions about who is best and their experiences. That is good and helpful information however it is biased and not fact. I liked this page because it said bariatric facts. I have heard alot of stories but they are contradictory to eachother so now I am asking can anyone elaborate about why I should be running away from this doctor or michelle. Part of the reason that I am confused is that Michelle is listed as the patient coordinator on their website as is Nina. Michelle is an on staff patient liason which seems to be standard. I have not been asked to pay her anything just the hospital deposit for the OR. Is that unusual? Does anyone of statistics or links to offer that can give me more information about Dr. Arellano or Dr. Esquerra that are not publications through their companies. Can read everyone suggestions for days but that doesn't show me if they have ever had deaths, or malpractice or if they are board certified.

 

[hilary1617]

I have read several peoples experiences with Dr. Esquerra and they are mostly good however like I said before I had one lady tell me to stay away from him. This is what my problem is. I am a member of several of these groups and everyone has there opinions about who is best and their experiences. That is good and helpful information however it is biased and not fact. I liked this page because it said bariatric facts. I have heard alot of stories but they are contradictory to eachother so now I am asking can anyone elaborate about why I should be running away from this doctor or michelle. Part of the reason that I am confused is that Michelle is listed as the patient coordinator on their website as is Nina. Michelle is an on staff patient liason which seems to be standard. I have not been asked to pay her anything just the hospital deposit for the OR. Is that unusual? Does anyone of statistics or links to offer that can give me more information about Dr. Arellano or Dr. Esquerra that are not publications through their companies. Can read everyone suggestions for days but that doesn't show me if they have ever had deaths, or malpractice or if they are board certified.

I've just gone on Dr. Arellano's official website and don't see mention of Michelle. Are you sure you are on *his* official site? His site lists Michele DEWAR, a different person, who is also a physician, as his on staff international patient coordinator on the Contact Us page. That is NOT Michelle Walsh.

I don't have any statistics, but wish you a successful procedure.

 

[Lydia]

Yes I noticed that and found that suspect also. I tried to call the direct number from the website also but they spoke Spanish and I don't. At this point I'm just really interested in who the he'll she is.

 

[Lydia]

Iv read through all of the forums about Dr. Esquerra. Can you guys tell me why you chose him to do your DS? He looks like he's good but I did have someone warn me away. But now I'm extremely paranoid maybe everyone is some Mexican bariatric spy praying on desperate, broke fat people lol. I know I'm being a little crazy but im a single mom on a teacher salary, I'm not trying to die in Mexico, but I also need this surgery to be able to be a better mom.

 

[hilary1617]

Yes I noticed that and found that suspect also. I tried to call the direct number from the website also but they spoke Spanish and I don't. At this point I'm just really interested in who the he'll she is.

If you call Michele Dewar, who I assume is listed as international patient coordinator because she is likely bilingual or multilingual, you might ask her for Arellano's board certifications, complication rates, etc. Also Esquerra's office should be able to provide that for him. Presumably, you could also research them directly through the professional associations / medical colleges they list.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

What you will find here, are a number of people who have had successful surgeries with Dr. Esquerra. Why not reach out to them about their experiences?

There's a difference between office staff patient coordinator directly employed by a doctor to deal with patients who contact his office and someone who independently operates outside of the doctor's office to recruit patients for a fee. The latter is simply unnecessary.

Exactly..."There's a difference between office staff patient coordinator directly employed by a doctor to deal with patients who contact his office and someone who independently operates outside of the doctor's office to recruit patients for a fee. The latter is simply unnecessary."

 

[Lydia]

but in a previous thread someone said they spoke with Dr. Arellano and he said she is employed by him as a patient care coordinator? this is where I am getting confused. everyone is saying no one should need a patient care coordinator but I have read multiple places that Dr. Esquerra uses Nina as a patient care coordinator. everyone is highly recommending Dr. Esquerra but that's contradictory if he shouldn't need a care coordinator. from what has been said on this forum Michelle welsh/ walsh or whatever is also a care coordinator on Dr. Arellanos staff. regardless I'm really just interested in why every recommends Dr. Esquerra so highly. I have looked through all the other threads about him and see everyone had a great experience. can anyone tell me why they chose him before going? what research made you chose him?

 

[galaxygrrl]

I'm really just interested in why every recommends Dr. Esquerra so highly. I have looked through all the other threads about him and see everyone had a great experience. can anyone tell me why they chose him before going? what research made you chose him?

I went to Dr. Esquerra. What i realized is I'm never going to be able to figure this out on my own. There is too much noise, too many people who wanted to take my money for me to figure out what was really going on. And I just wanted to get this done.

I had a really bad experince with Dr Kelly and his patient coordinator and it turns out Dr Kelly is a butcher, but the reviews online are good and Dr. Kelly and his patent coordiantor did a good job selling me.

In the end, I really just decided that everyone here had had a great experince with Dr. Esquerra and given I was never going to figure it out (and the people here really knew what they were talking about) I trusted them. I also had my Obesity Dr who I had worked with for 15 years and works with Dr Rabkin (one of the top DS docs in the country) talk to Nina and Dr. Esquerra for me too.