James M. Kane Jr. Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS

First impression was good. Further dealings with the office staff was terrible. I first went to the practice in Dec. 2003. Saw him in Jan. and filled out all the paper work. Kept calling to find out if approval had come and was told they never sent it out. It didn't get sent until April after much nagging on my part! I finally got approved in Sept. and had surgery in Dec. Hospital stay was just okay, but never saw him after surgery. He is a skilled surgeon and has lots of experience which is why I tolerated the other stuff. His competence is definately better than his bedside manner. He is very nice, but patronizing.

Wonderful does not cover it. I have all the faith in the world in Dr.Kane Jr. I have an infection after surgery and after talking with him, it all made sense. I got scared when office people started talking about infectious disease doctors but after spending a few minutes with Doctor Kane my fears were eased. His staff is just as wonderful. I had so many questions post op and all of them were answered in a timely manner and with a positive attitude.

I met Dr. Kane Jr. on November 8, 2004. He is a really nice man and made me feel so at ease, so comfortable and made me realize this is the journey I must take. He just exudes confidence and took alot of my fears away. He spent all the time that I wanted and needed with me allowing me to ask every question I had. He answered everything and nothing was too much. I know I have chosen the right doctor for me. If a doctor can make me feel this comfortable on the first meeting (I have been known to have issues)then there is no stopping now.

I am a successful post-op (down 124 lbs) but this is NO THANKS to Dr. Kane Jr!

I worked within the Weight For Life system for 9 months only to have them throw me out in the end when I professionally and politely complained about the poor service.

I begged weight for life to let me take my pre-op tests before my insurance approval came because my company would be switching insurance carriers and there wouldn't be time for me to get it all done when the approval did come through. They refused. I then received my approval and begged them to help me get through the system faster because I would lose approval and have to start all over again. They refused. My company switched agencies and I had to start all over again in the approval process. After getting approval AGAIN, it took Weight For Life months to schedule me for surgery. When I told Dr. Kane of my bad experiences with Weight For Life he had his secretary call me and tell me to get lost. I was confused by his response and asked the secretary to have him call me. He never did.

I will be reporting him to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations as was recommended by a surgeon friend of mine. What an arrogant man! Luckily I found a wonderful surgeon that had much more lap experience then Dr. Kane. I was since told that Dr. Kane has a 50% conversion rate (meaning he has to open up 50% of the people he tries to to lap on). I don't know if this is true but I would check it out before I scheduled anything with him. I also would avoid the Weight For Life system. It is a red-tape nightmare and Dr. Kane doesn't have any interest in making it better.

These are just my personal impressions of my own personal experience and I make no statements about what other people may experience.

Dr. Kane Jr, is a very soft spoken person and very pleasant. I had my appointment at 9:00 PM. Everyone in the office was very friendly, even though they were all ready to go home for the day. Dr. Kane answered all of my questions completely and politly even though it was so late into the evening. Because this is a revision he questioned me carefully to make sure this was indeed something I wanted to go through again. He explained to me everything that was going to be different from the gastroplasty and I would have to be much more disaplined. He explained to me the importance of the support group and becoming an active member. Dr. Kane Sr. did my gastroplastly and his son is just as sweet and caring. Would recommend Dr Kane, Jr. to everyone!

Dr. James Kane (Sr.-his son James Kane, Jr. also is a bariatric surgeon) is a kind, friendly man. He is a senior citizen, but full of energy and very busy. He is not too busy to call you back if you have a problem or question. His staff is pleasant and helpful, too. I recommend Dr. Kane because he listens, and is obviously very competent at what he does, which he's been doing for 40+ years. Kane has a solid before and after-care program. Before-care includes a visit with a dietician at the hospital where your surgery takes place. He also has you see a sleep specialist (pulmonologist) to be checked for sleep apnea and respiratory health in general. The pulmonologist gave me a machine to sleep with (overnight) to monitor my respiration. Then Kane has you visit a psychologist for a full personality screening test and one-on-one interview. You must meet at least once before surgery with the psychologist-run support group that becomes your after care group. This after care support group costs $10 per meeting, every two weeks, plus a workbook (optional) for $20. Kane also has you get an upper GI x-ray and an ultrasound of your gall bladder.

Kane is associated with a group called Weight for Life (www.weight-for-life.com). They helped me get insurance approval. They instructed me to gather my medical records, and they gave me a written survey of my weight and dieting history. They sent the surgery request letter to my insurance company, and got an approval on the first try. Weight for Life sponsors the after-care support group, and they give weight loss surgery informational seminars. If they work with a surgeon in your area, they can hook you up.

What I did that departed from Kane's standard after-care was to see his dietician AFTER surgery on my own 6 months post-op. This was not cheap ($80), and not covered by insurance. The dietician was VERY helpful in establishing an eating and nutrition plan and a weight goal. I wish that an 'after visit' with the dietician had been included in the plan, but at least I knew the service was there, and they were familiar with WLS patients, and Dr. Kane's patients in particular.

Overall, I'd recommend Dr. Kane Senior highly. I have no experience with Dr. Kane, Jr., who is a partner in practice with his father. I hear he is excellent, tho. I've seen Kane, Jr. speak about the surgery and he is obviously a very dedicated professional.

One comment I'd like to make at the 5.5 post op mark is I believe your pouch does expand. Mine has doubled in capacity since surgery. Also, you CAN gain weight if you bottom out and stop eating and exercising properly. You've got to keep your diet and exercise going. It's a simple equation, do it and stay slim, stop and start to gain. You may not gain a lot, but it happens. So if you're planning for this surgery, don't ever think you can 'relax'. You will always need to be vigilant about what you eat and how you exercise. It will become your lifestyle (with plenty of room for other things). But slacking off will be rewarded with a slack body.

Dr. Kane Jr. is a very nice man and he's been doing this surgery for quite a while with much success. (His father, who is also in the practice has been doing this surgery for 30+ years.) Follow up care has been good. Usually get a call back from Judy, Dr. Kane's nurse, within an hour of my call. Wish the whole office was like that (see below).

He was honest that I would probably lose weight slower than many people because I'm a lightweight and have hypothroidism, but said I should still be successful in obtaining my weight loss goal (150ish).

My Surgeon Group, Suburban Surgical Care Specialists (SSCS) used to use a group called Weight for Life (WFL) until the end of 2003 to get their patients approved by their insurance companies. I was approved with the first letter in November 2003, however, when SSCS stopped using WFL, first, I wasn't told about this until March 2004 when I called SSCS to try to get a surgery date and second, getting a hold of them was very difficult as only one person dealt with this. When I finally got a call back (after me making several calls) they told me that they resubmitted the approval to my insurance in late February since they no longer go through WFL. That took another 3 weeks and confused my insurance company since they had already approved them.

I went to SSCS's mandatory October informational seminar and they made no mention of this. It would have been nice if they were up front about it as I was really hoping to have my surgery in January or February, but am now scheduled for April 27th.

Overall, SSCS's main downfall is returning patient calls. It took over 3 weeks for them to call me back from the first time I called them to get a surgery date set up.

I had to do a psych. visit prior to them writing the letter, so that was out of the way early.

i LOVE DR KANE....HE WAS SUPPORTIVE, COMPASSIONATE, AND HAS INCREDIBLE BEDSIDE MANNER AND OF COURSE MY FAVORITE....A SENSE OF HUMOR...HIS STAFF IS ATTENTIVE AND HELPFUL AND HIS AFTERCARE PROGRAM IS GREAT...HE WOULD BE RATED A 10+++FROM ME!!

I have had nothing but positive impressions of Dr Kane Jr. He is brilliant, and has a very good manner with patients. As a nurse it is easy to tell the doctors who really enjoy their work and those who stand out from the crowd. Dr James Kane Jr is a shining example of this, as was his father Dr James Kane, St when he did my surgery 22 years ago. The office personnel are very pleasant, and his nurses are very good. I would highly recommend this surgeon, I had to travel and and half hours to two hours if traffic. It is worth every minute of it to have the best Dr. AFter care is conducted primarily by classes with his nurse, dietician and physical therapist stressing exercise. Dr Kane stressed importance of following the program afterwards and schedules appts at appropriate times following surgery. These are my personal opinions and experiences, and I hope your experiences will be every bit as good as mine havw been.

I have to say that my Surgeon Dr. Kane Jr. is the best. He was awesome and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I would tell everyone to go to him if I could. He has just the best bedside manners and that is cool. I feel bad when I had trouble but he never worried and never said boo and see you next time. He is awesome and I can't rave about him anymore. Words doesn't describ him. So if he reads this. THANK YOU FOR CHANGING MY LIFE!!!!