Even though Doctor Fobi is the founder of the Center and the proponent of the Fobi Pouch Operation for Obesity, other obesity operations and surgical operations are performed by the doctors affiliated with the Center. Dr. Fobi is a general surgeon specialized in obesity (bariatric) surgery. Doctors Hoil Lee, Daniel Igwe, Basil Felahy, and Eliane James are all general surgeons, also specialized in obesity surgery, who have trained under and are working with Dr. Fobi at the Center. Each surgeon is independently contracted to the Center. Each and every one of these surgeons is well trained and knowledgeable in general surgery and obesity surgery to handle any surgical problems by any patient. Each and every one of these surgeons can and have operated independently. The benefit you get by coming to the Center for Surgical Treatment of Obesity is that the combined experience of all these surgeons goes into managing your care. We discuss all surgeries before, during and after the hospital course.
The surgeons all have various operating days and office days. Your assignment as to your surgeon is random except when you specifically request the surgeon. In most cases the request can be accommodated even if it may mean some delay in scheduling. If your request cannot be met, you will be advised. Not all surgeons are providers for all the insurances or third party payers. You may thus be assigned a surgeon because of your insurance requirements. Two or more surgeons are usually involved in your operation.
The Center for Surgical Treatment of Obesity collaborates with two main hospitals to provide your surgical care; TriCity Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens, California, and Bellwood General Hospital in Bellflower, California. Your surgeons have privileges at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Centinela Hospital Medical Center, and Brotman Medical Center and at times will do surgeries at these other hospitals which are also equipped with the bariatric instruments we need. The hospitals are independent entities from the Center.
Various specialist consultants are used by the surgeons at the Center as needed to provide patients the optimum care needed. These consultants include: anesthesiologists, cardiologists, hematologists, infectious disease, urologist, gynecologist, opthamologist, otolaryngologist and pulmonologist specialists, gastrointerologists, podiatrists, endocrinologists, radiologists, neurologists, nephrologists, psychiatrists, orthopedists, vascular, plastic and general surgeons. These are independent consultants and the patients are responsible for the costs of being managed by these consultants.
Similarly, arrangements for x-rays and laboratory evaluations have been made with various entities to coordinate the care of patients. These entitles bill independently for their services and patients are responsible for the bills generated by the hospital consultants, labs and x-ray facilities. Questions with bills originating from any of these consultants, hospitals, x-rays and laboratories should not be brought to the Center’s staff but should be taken to the various providers of the services.
The surgical fee you are charged covers your care for up to three months by the surgeons after your operation. There after you or your insurance will be billed for any further services.
The Center is available to all patients who have had operations through the Center five days a week during regularly scheduled hours. There is a surgeon on call and a patient counselor on call 24 hours a day to answer questions or help resolve any problems you may have.
We see walk in patients at our offices. All patients who have had surgery through the Center will be seen if they want or need to be seen in the office whether they have an appointment or not and whether they can pay or not. We prefer that you make an appointment if at all possible. This facilitates and organizes the care patients get when seen as scheduled by appointments. After hours, in the case of any emergencies, patients can go to any emergency room and have the ER Doctor call the Center for the surgeon on call. All calls are returned within 15 minutes, if not call the exchange back. Patients who go to the emergency room will be seen and treated by the ER Doctor with phone consultations from one of our surgeons. One of the surgeons will usually come to see a patient in the ER only if necessary for the optimal care of the patient. Our surgeons can only see the patients at the ER at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, TriCity Regional Medical Center and Bellwood General Hospital. Patients at other ERs will have to be transferred to one of the above named hospitals.
We have seen a direct correlation between successful weight maintenance and the attendance and participation at Support Group Meetings. We strongly recommend that you attend at least six Support Group Meetings yearly.