John Kellum Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S.

Dr. Kellum seems to be very concerned about you as a patient. He really worked hard to make me feel comfortable about the surgery.

The office staff is awesome. I think they actually make the entire process worthwhile.

After care is very important to Dr. Kellum. He wants to make sure that you are taking good care of yourself, and progressing well.

Overall, I would give Dr. Kellum and his office staff a good review.

The only problem that I forsee, is because MCV is a teaching hospital, Dr. Kellum allows interns to make decisions that are not always the best for the patient, and then he, Dr. Kellum, have to correct the errored decision. Point in case, one of Dr. Kellum's interns pulled a staple from my stomach, because he thought it "looked" red. In doing so, although, there was not an infection, it gave me an open wound in which I had to pack for 3 months after surgery. When you are learning to eat all over again, and everything makes you sick, you don't want to deal with packing an open wound as well.

professional - but not a good bedside manner






excellent surgon - not good follow up care in the hospital


excellent



spent no time with the patient, very busy man


interns mostly handle the post op care



very important

My initial impression of Dr. Kellum was a really good one. I have only met him once, so far, and he was very informative and took the time to answer any questions. I felt comfortable with him and I am glad he is the one I chose to meet with.
The office staff was also very nice to deal with. Both the doctor and the staff made surgery risks and benefits quite clear. Dr. Kellum was very open about discussing the good and the bad sides of this type of surgery.
From what I know so far I would recommend them to anyone that asked me.

I think he is great. He answers all of your questions and volunteers alot of imformation so you dont have to actually ask that many. He was friendly and very intelligent, I will fill in more after surgery to let you know how he was. He was very determined that if I had a pain he had a xray or ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. His surgical competence was wonderful, his bedside manner was good, all in all I still wouldnt have chose any other doctor to have done my surgery. I honestly dont have anything negative to say about my experience at the hospital besides my roomate drove me crazy.

He was very warm and receptive.

My impressive of him did not change.

His office staff was very friendly and courteous.

He does do the DS surgery, but does not advertise this fact.

He did not hold back on the risk involved with the surgery.

Overall I would rate him as a 9.

Wonderful doctor! Funny! Made me feel very comfortable at my initial consult. He answered all of my questions. His staff is marvelous. They make you feel like you're their only patient! Great first impression. I'll update more as I see him again.

Dr. Kellum was great. Very informative and friendly. Explained the risks and benefits in good detail.

I first discovered Dr. Kellum via an article on WebMD in which he was interviewed about some research on the lap band procedure in which he had participated. After consulting with a local surgeon in Oakland, MD, who gave me the names of several of the top surgeons in the field, I contacted Medical College of Virginia and was scheduled for a consultation with Dr. Kellum.

I was very impressed with his no-nonsense approach to the consultation; although I found his sense of humor a little abrupt at first, I found that he's just as able to "take it" as he is to "dish it out", and by the time of my surgery and post-operative hospitalization, we had a regular vaudeville act going!

His office staff were very friendly and cooperative, however, when it came to submitting documentation for insurance coverage, they sort of missed the boat. (In retrospect, I'd have preferred to have handled this myself. They offered NO help whatsoever when my insurance company denied coverage, and a major factor in their denial was that the office staff did NOT submit some of the most important documentation of medical necessity that it took to get the denial overturned! In short, if the right documentation had been submitted in the first place, coverage would not have been denied; if that part of the work had been left to me, this never would have happened.

If future patients should know anything about this surgeon, the business about applying for insurance coverage is the one thing I would stress. Insist on doing it yourself, if need be, with professional help and advice; the document on Obesity Law Center's web site addressing applying for insurance coverage will guide you right through the process. Also, be aware of any applicable state legislation; I was, they weren't. (They didn't even appear to be aware of the recently-passed legislation in Virginia!)

The program at MCV puts a high emphasis on aftercare; each patient gets a manual prior to surgery which they are required to read in full prior to the preoperative class. There is a structured aftercare program that is explained in full in that manual. For patients such as myself who live some distance away from the hospital, the staff are easily accessible and available by phone and electronic mail. They address the risks of surgery, and their statistics are impressive (they have the national average beat; their average is 0.5% mortality rate as compared to an overall average of 2%.)

I would rate Dr. Kellum by echoing the assessment that I was given prior to meeting with him, i.e., that he is indeed among the top 5 surgeons in the country. It certainly took someone of his skill to complete my surgery as well as he did. Both surgical competence and bedside manner were excellent; my husband definitely seconds my comment on bedside manner. While virtually everyone in my family questioned why I went so far away to have this procedure, none of them are doing so now!

Dr. John Kellum seems very interested in helping people who need WLS. His staff seemed excited when I was excited, and concerned when I was concerned.

He informs you of all of the risks of surgery, and makes sure you definetly want to do the surgery. He strongly emphasises the importance of seeing him after the surgery, and making sure his staff can monitor you.

Dr. Kellum was very helpful in making me feel comfortable about the procedure.. He has over 20 years experience in gastro bypass...and that alone made me feel confident...he answered all the questions i had and he made sure he had all the information he needed about my health to ensure the best treatment for me...i had my 3 month follow up june 1rst and he is emphasizing that i need to keep up with the excersizing and to maintain the protein intake...(which i haven't been doing lately)Dr. Kellum was upfront about the risks of surgery...but i knew deep down my chances to live was close to zero without the surgery....i felt that bad physically.. i rate Dr. Kellum ,,,his staff and VCU Hospital a "10" i had been lucky to have him do the surgery with great competency.. and a great staff of drs. and nurses helping me while in the hospital while recovering.