Alan Wittgrove Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

Have not yet gone to see the doctor
(waiting for insurance approval before I
make the treck to San Diego).
His staff seems very nice and extremely helpful!
After doing a lot of research, I am positive
that he is the best doctor in my area for
the procedure.

Very personable and professional. Always kept me and my family informed. His staff provided me valuable information on recommended supplements. It is very encouraging to see the volumes of before and after pictures in the reception area of his office. The office staff thoroughly explained the aftercare program to follow up on patients' progress. Prior to leaving the hospital, they have a class that provides you information on nutrition, exercise and social/emotional changes which was very helpful to me and my family.

Dr. Wittgrove and his staff are first rate! I really enjoyed them all and have complete faith in them. I really enjoyed chatting with the staff since a lot of them have had the surgery as well.

He came across as a wonderful man and a genuine and caring surgeon. I feel totally at ease with him.

He explained all the risks and how my aftercare would work since I am not from the San Diego area.

I can see now why he, and his partner, Dr. Clark, and their staff get rave reviews.

Alan is an extremely nice guy and of coarse very knowledgable. Office staff seems a bit sloppy in procedure as they have gotten a little too big, too fast after the Carnie Wilson publicity fiasco and do not seem to be able to handle the overload. I am post op 1& 1/2 years and basically I thought (maybe wrong) that they would followup for some time after surgery as they were doing several studies I have received no follow up calls or paperwork other than a one page form asking me how I am doing. The part I was most annoyed about however was that I was told by Alvarado Staff to not even bother about trying to get my Blue Cross PPO to pay for surgery as there is no way they would approve it. Now after reading through the insurance section on this site I see several others with similar BMIs and comorbidities that were approved with the same insurance - if I knew there was even a chance I would have tried to get BS to pay but instead I forked over $22,000 Plus for the procedure. Not exactly chump change. I am happy with the results however and still believe that it is the best money I ever spent in my life - but beyond the first few months this is really a do it on your own program and process.

My initial impression of Dr. Wittgrove was that he was somewhat aloof---but I was wrong! He proved to be very caring and explained things thoroughly to me. He was also very accessible and was there when I needed him. He was called twice in the middle of the night and he was very reassuring. I also spoke to him when I got home to Kansas. I felt very tcondient that I realized excellent care and I was in the best of hands. I am very glad that I chose him to be my surgeon. I give him an A+ in all categories.

HAD MY SURGERY ON 1/5/00

//DR WITTGROVE IS VERY PERSONABLE AND WAS ALWAYS RESPONSIVE WITH ME. I MET HIM BEFORE SURGERY SINCE I FLEW FROM FLA TO CA TO HAVE SURGERY WITH HIM.

HE TOOK THE TIME SPOKE TO ME EXTENSIVELY,
EXPLAINED THE SURGERY, ASKED ME WHY HAD I CHOSEN THIS SURGERY. ASKED ABOUT ME, MY FAMILY AND HOBBIES. I WAS VERY IMPRESSED IN HOW PERSONABLE HE WAS AND HOW MUCH HE SHOWED HE CARED ABOUT ME AS A PATIENT. HE WAS ALWAYS SMILING AND SUPPORTIVE.

RIGHT BEFORE SURGERY HE CAME AND HELD MY HAND, GAVE ME A SMILE AND SHOWED SUCH SUPPORT AND CARE.

AFTER SURGERY, HE VISITED ME DAILY, CHECKED ON ME AND SINCE I WAS DOING SO WELL, EVEN
CRACKED FEW JOKES.

LAST I SAW HIM, HE CHECKED MY DRAINS, MY INCISSIONS, GAVE ME AN A+ BILL OF HEALTH
AND ANSWERED ALL THE QUESTIONS I HAD.

I TRULLY BELIEVE I HAD THE BEST SURGEON, BOTH AS A PROFESSIONAL AND AS A PERSON.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. WITTGROVE :)

HIS OFFICE STAFF:
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! FROM THE INSURANCE
REPRESENTATIVE, TO THE RECEPTIONIST, TO THE
GIRLS IN ACCOUNTING, TO THE NURSES AND NURSES ASSISTANTS. THEY ALL KNOW ME BY FIRST NAME AND CARE SO MUCH ABOUT MY HEALTH,
MY FOLLOW UP WAS ALWAYS PROMPT. PAPERWORK
WAS ALWAYS FILLED OUT. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW
WELL AND EFFICIENT EVERYTHING IS RUN, AND
STILL THEY SHOWED TRUE CARING FOR THE PATIENTS.

AFTERCARE PROGRAM:
INCREDIBLE!!! NUTRITION CLASSES, EXERCISE CLASSES, FOLLOW UP MONTHLY, BLOODWORK MONTHLY AND QUATERLY. THEY ARE VERY FOCUS
ON FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP!!!

I will have my first meeting with Dr. Wittgrove on the 21st of January. This will be my pre-operative visit.

Because I am traveling from the Northwest, all of my communication with the staff and Hospital has been over the phone and by mail.

Other that dealing with a very busy office, the staff have been responsive, professional and with excellent follow through.

My impression of Dr Wittgrove was good. He is very friendly, helpful an obviously he knows what he is doing! Dr Wittgroves office is very busy. Be prepared for long wait in his office. His office staff was helpful but also very busy. It will take some time to get all the paperwork they require and insurance coverage so be patient. Good things will happen. They have a very structured aftercare program, but I live in San Diego so it's easy to attend meetings. I'm not sure how it works for people from out of town. You are advised of the risks of surgery many many times. You need to go into this with your eyes wide open. I attended a post op meeting with post op patients which really gave me an idea of what to expect. Overall I would rate Dr Wittgrove as an excellent surgeon.

I met Dr Wittgrove at a seminar at Alvarado Hospital. I found him very pleasant, very imformative, and very caring. I feel comfortable in the fact the majority of his staff have had this type of surgery in the past and they can understand what their patients have and will be going through

I only so far have met his assistant, Dr. Clark.

His office staff is WONDERFUL! I can not say enough good things about them.

They are the best in the country. They have preformed for then anyone else. Experiece speaks for it self.

They provide follow up care for LIFE free of charge.

I would recommend these two surgeons to anyone who wants the best.

Both. I believe in their preformance even tho I have not had surgery yet. Their bedside manner is WONDERFUL. Very compitant and yet sensitive.