Ruary O'Connell Bariatric Surgeon M.D., F.A.C.S.

2/17/04 - I met Dr. O'Connell & some of the ReNew staff (social worker, nutritionist, nurse practitioner) at a support group meeting/new info meeting. The 1st 30 min. was for pre-ops to ask questions to the post-ops, then the post-ops went to their aftercare meeting, and us pre-ops stayed with the Doctor & nurse & asked more questions. It was very laid back & informal, no slide show, etc. The doc was very honest & direct. He & his partner, Dr. Mando, do all of the surgeries together (over 2,000 RNY). He openly stated that they consider themselves still learning the laproscopic procedure (although I believe he said they're done a few hundred). They do the open RNY in under 1 hour. I had already decided that I wanted mine done open anyway. And last week I found out I have gallstones, and they only do an open procedure if they know the patient has stones. He discussed the risks & expected outcomes. I haven't had an appointment with him yet, but I feel I've made a good choice in surgeons.

I believe that experience, competence and success rates are the most important factors in choosing a surgeon. If a surgeon has a good bedside manner, that's just a plus.

I really seem to like my surgeon Dr. O'Connell. He has answered every question so far in great detail and is very open and candid about the risks of surgery. He very much requires each patient to participate in the aftercare program and I too feel it is necessary. He did not rush me when I had my consultation and has a sense of humor, which eases my nerves and enables me to speak openly with him. I personally know two people that have been patients of him before me and they too speak highly of him. I would definitely recommend him to anyone.

You love him on sight. Very kind, very understanding older man. He has done thousands of this surgery and I had/have every confidence in him.

The office staff is phenomenal. His nurse, Heather, is every bit as competent as a doctor herself. I never once called that someone didn't return my call in a timely manner.

There is a support follow-up group session monthly with his staff. You can attend that for as long as you wish. There also are regular check-ups throughout your life. You are encouraged to be seen at least yearly if not more often.

I think bedside manner is almost as important as competence because if the patient is not at ease, it is more difficult to ease anxieties for the patient. I was extremely lucky to have had this surgeon.

Dr. O'Connell saved my life. I was one of the first patients that had the surgery at Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital. I work at the hospital and was excited to be able to get to know my doctor. I see him every day and he still asks me how I am doing and it has been 5 years since I had the surgery. I have and will continue to recommend Dr. O'Connell to anyone I feel needs his help.

Dr. O'Connell was recommended by my primary care doctor and well known by my husband's urologist and my oncologist. I was impressed with his frankness. He was very through in telling me what the surgery consist of. I will be in the aftercare program. It's recommended for the first two years after surgery and I plan to continue afterwards. He did explain the risk of the surgery. I have not had surgery yet, but I look forward to having my surgery.

Dr. O'Connell is very easy to talk to and is extremely well knowledged. He completely seemed to understand what I have been going through with my weight battle.

Dr. O'Connell has been extremely thorough with tests, etc... for pre-op. I have full and complete faith in him!

Great first impression that didn't change. the office staff is outstanding. they are very helpful and supportive.
There is a great deal of emphasis on after care and I would rate the entire staff and doctor excellent.

My first impression od Dr.Ruary was that he was very caring and willing to go that extra mile to make sure I understood everything about the surgery. He was very sweet and took his time with me. The staff at his office was also very professional and willing to help in any kind of way. I just would like to thank him and Dr. Mando for giving me that second chance at life. They were very good to me while in the hospital. To me, Dr. Ruary is a great person as well as a doctor.

I had met Dr. O'Connell when my daughter had her surgery. He was very efficient and caring but very busy. He was the same way at my visit. I went to a support group meeting one night in New Orleans and he was much more relaxed, funny, very informative, no beating around the bush.
He places so much emphasis on aftercare that at your preop visit you pay $200. At the end of two years you get your $200 back if you complete all your aftercare visits wtih him. If not, the money goes into the Chaplain's fund at the hospital.
The last ten minutes of the support meeting he discussed all the risks of the surgery.

At first I didn't like him. He was abrupt and I felt like he was just coaching me for the "right" answers in order to approve me and didn't really "care". It was very busy in his office (cattle call) so I'm sure he was tired of talking to people.

After that first visit and after I was pretty much approved, he was friendlier. I can understand how he wouldn't want to get "close" to a patient if they weren't going to get approved - you know, avoid all the "why whining", etc.

I was NOT happy with the majority of his office staff. The girls who you have to talk to on the phone were so unpleasant and unprofessional. His office manager was sympathetic to my feelings when I expressed written concern but I never did feel that it got any better after subsequent calls. They just don't seem to want to go beyond picking up the reciever to help you when you have valid questions.

The thing I liked least about Dr. O'Connell was that he contradicted me while I was in the hospital after a bad night of pain and a run in with the night nurse regarding my pain. If I'm in pain, no one knows the degree but me, and that nurse was trying to tell me I wasn't in that much pain and wouldn't call the anesthetist for a resolution until I practically broke down! Dr O'Connell wasn't concerned at all about her behavior or about my pain level. I was told in pre-op meetings that there was no reason for me to ever be in pain and to make sure I let someone know when I was experiencing more pain than normal - lotta good it did me -- NOT! I could have been clotting or worse but the nurse wasn't concerned in the least...

Future patients should know that he does these surgeries regularly and that he doesn't get very close to his patients but he will answer your questions, albeit in an abrupt manner.

He puts a great importance on office visit aftercare (the $200 cash fee he requires, which is refundable if you make all the appointments is a big incentive) but the support group is held late at night and because I live 2 hours away, I can't go to them.

The risk of surgery is clearly emphasised at the first visit and if you have concerns about it, he'll certainly address them to you if you ask.

He's a very competent surgeon and he does know what he's doing. I rate him 8-9 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 best).

I feel very strongly that surgical competence outweighs bedside manner, but both are intricately necessary for this procedure. As an obese person, I was very sensitive to the way people treated me as a "fat" person and it wasn't a good feeling. As a result of those feelings, I was on edge, nervous, anxious, and scared and I needed him to be more personable to me and I needed to feel like I was the only one he was seeing, not like a number, which is how I felt most of the time.

I realize he sees hundreds of patients and does this surgery so routinely, so he can't be friends with everyone and the procedure is no big deal to him, but the anxiety one experiences (we only go through it once!!) throughout this procedure is greatly underestimated by him and his staff.

I'm still happy I did this, but without my total personal commitment and singlular resolve (not to mention the support of my husband and family) I couldn't have done this based on the feeling I got from him and his office staff.

This is my personal opinion and does not in any way reflect the opinion of Obesityhelp.com toward this surgeon and his staff.