Robert Rutledge Bariatric Surgeon M.D.

Dr. Rutledge is very knowledgable, I liked him from the beginning.I know now from talking how fortunate I am to have him.I cannot believe the physicians who are not up to date,the recommendations are crude.His staff are very sympathatic to all of your concerns.I havenot found anyhting to dislike about Dr. Rutledge. I do believe that it will be a relief to his staff for larger surroundings and more help.
Be patient, the Dr. and his staff are in high demand with limited help. They do the best they can. Please read everything on the website. Almost all your questions are answered there or here. That way your concerns are not repetitive. Dr. Rutledge puts you thru hoops to be sure you have made an informed decision FOR LIFE not a quick fix.You will not find a more informed doctor or staff, check out his site. Dr. R utledge lives up tp his reputation professionly and personaly he is no nonsense and up front.I entered this relm in my life fully informed , with absolutely no regrets...

Post op at this time. Dr. R. is an excellent surgeon. I have so much energy now. I wish there was more aftercare, not able to due to schedule.

Dr. Rutledge is, what my father would have called, "a card". He has a great sense of humor as well as a deep respect and concern for obese people. Upon meeting him my initial reaction was that he has an incredible 'presence' - he emits energy. And even though he is stick thin, you can read in his expression how much he is genuinely concerned for the plight of the fat person. His staff is incredibly overworked, and I'll bet underpaid for the amount of work they do, but they do it with a good sense of humor. Their office is completely overwhelmed with patient 'wannabe's' - especially given the quantity of work that goes into each patient's approval. Dr. R makes sure you are serious - his requirements are tough, and he enforces them. I believe this is a wonderful aspect - it is not a surgery to be taken lightly. From everything I have seen, heard and read about Dr. R, I believe him to be an extremely knowledgeable and compassionate man.

My first impression was that he was personable, genuine, and a wealth of knowlede. Over time my feelings grew stronger about his manners and capabilities.His office and staff are incredible. I am VERY picky when it come to doctors, and I am honest when I say there was nothing I liked least about him. Future patients should know that with Dr. R. you are not a number, your a person who needs compassion about why they want this life altering surgery.How much does he emphasize aftercare- So much it drives you crazy, but he does it for our benefit.Yes, he has a structured aftercare, and has us follow-up with our primary care doctor. He even make us get a letter from that doctor stating they will follow us closely. We saw a movie and had a group dicussion about all our questions (no limited timeframe either) and the risks. I would rate him on a scale of 1-10 a 10+. His surgical competence and bedside manner are both great. I know this because I have had surgeries and many doctors to compare to. He is truely the best out there.

Dr.Rutledge is a very caring, highly skilled physician,who leaves no question unanswered.He has an excellent and friendly office staff though they are worked to the max.due to the high interest in his mini-gastric bypass. I would highly recommend him to anyone.

In finding Dr. Rutledge on the internet, I really found him to be very considerate, and wants his patients to be informed of what is going to happen to them and how their life will change. He continues to monitor his patients after the surgery and it makes all feel like he really cares. His office staff is very patient and considerate with all the interest and their demands. I really can not think of anything I dislike about him, he is determined about education and follow ups, he also has a very kind mannerism that helps the fears of the operation to disappear. He has an extensive aftercare and follow up even with those out of state. He addresses the risks of surgery and ask the patients to write a 10 page letter to him as part of his package he receives from all patients showing that we understand all procedures. I consider him to be very efficient in all areas. Thats why I have chosen him to do the surgery.

My first impression is that I couldn't believe there was a surgon who actually was an advocate for fat patients. In my past experiences with surgeons (I am a registered nurse who has worked with physicians for years) every health detail was a result of my obesity. I wondered what they blamed things on for thin people with the same symptoms. Over time I have come to know that he is genuinely concerned about my outcomes and made sure I understood all the risks of the mini bypass before I had my surgery. His office staff is polite enough but they are extremely busy do to the amount of people wanting to have the surgery. It was a harrowing week waiting to hear from Dr. R if I had been approved by him or not.
Future patients should take comfort in the fact that he is extremely accessible and will take as much time as you require to make sure you are comfortable with the process. Aftercare is critical. He does not allow anyone to leave the Durham area for at least 5 days. He also requires you to address aftercare in the patient letter you must complete prior to being approved for the sugery. Being from Missouri my aftercare program is structured with my PCP here. My PCP had to write a letter stating how he would monitor my after care before I was approved by Dr. R. Every surgical risk was outlined in a patient education manual that came to be my second bible. Risks were again addressed in the preoperative educational clinic, held by Dr. R, that lasted almost 4 hours. I would rate him excellent overall, but, of course, I am biased, he has provided me with a tool to regain a healthy weight. Since I wasn't awake during the surgery (duh) I can only rate his competence by my outcome. In a little over 2 months I have already lost over 50 pounds. I am estatic. His bedside manner, however, is equally impressive. I never felt rushed. He sat at the bedside - made sure my husband and I both were comfortable with the entire surgical process.

My only negative experience is that my surgery was bumped from Thursday to Friday because the hospital was full and had no beds for surgical patients to go to after their surgery. That 24 hours was the longest wait in my life.

My first impression of Dr. Rutledge was that he was very caring, and super nice. Dr. Rutledge is still the most caring doctor I have ever seen. He always responds to my email almost instantly. His office staff is very nice, but extremely busy. I have no complaints with Dr. Rutledge or his staff. Dr. Rutledge makes each patient complete a very detailed packet to make sure they understand the surgery, its risks, and benefits. He requires you to have a pcp that will do follow up care, but he is always available to answer questions. Dr. Rutledge went into great detail about the risks. I feel he didnt leave anything out. I chose Dr. Rutledge because he is an excellent surgeon, however his bedside manner is awesome.

I was amazed with Dr. Rutledge. I expected him to be more conservative, in reality he is pretty laid back. That is not to say that in order to get the surgery done by him was easy. It was not by far. Dr. Rutledge requires an extensive amount of writing and research on the patients part. That is why it makes it so worth while. I have met Dr. Rutledge and he truely is an extraordinary man and professional. He is genuinely concerned for his patients and is not one of the money hungry type. He is a ham, but do NOT get the wrong impression. When it comes to The Mini Gastric Bypass he is a rock that will not budge. He wants you to be very honest with him and yourself, and does not take the surgery litely. I have truely been blessed to find him and his life saving surgery. If you are from out of town, that is more than a 2 1/2 hour drive from Durham, plan to stay a week at least to make sure everything goes okay and then Dr. Rutledge can take your staples out at clinic. His clinics are now being held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1pm. For more information go to http://www.clos.net

Dr. Rutledge is a very caring person. He understands the emotional as well as physical problems associated with obesity. His office staff is very helpful. I called them anytime I had a question. He is very concerned about his patients after they go home from surgery and requests that everyone keeps in contact and lets him know how they are doing. He was a trana surgeon for 20 yrs. before becoming a bariatric surgeon. He is friendly, cheerful, has a good sense of humor, but most of all is knowledgeable. I trusted him completely.