Stacey Owen, Southport, FL

 

I’ve had a weight problem all my life.  For the last two years, I’ve been thinking seriously about bariatric surgery—nothing else has ever worked long-term.  I checked out several options — lap band, and gastric bypass [RNY].but for me, they weren’t right.  A friend of my mother-in-law thought I should check out duodenal switch surgery.  When I studied the data of all the weight loss surgeries about keeping weight off, I decided this was the way to go. 

The surgery here would have cost $30,000 to $35,000. I knew I’d have to go out of the country–to Mexico, Brazil or Spain.  My initial research led me to medical tourism company WorldMed Assist, where I learned I could have the duodenal switch in Mexico—my first choice—done at the brand new Hospital Angeles in Tijuana for $16,000 with a surgeon who had a great reputation and a lot of experience. 

I continued researching other options on my own, and discovered I could set up surgery on my own at a clinic in Tijuana for less money, so I booked it with a $500 deposit and bought airline tickets for my husband and me.  What a mistake that turned out to be!

Seven days before I was to fly there, I read a posting on the internet that scared me from one of that doctor’s patients.  I talked to the surgeon, who tried to calm my fears, but it just didn’t feel right.  I called WorldMed Assist, and told Wouter that if he could arrange the surgery with Dr. Ungson at Hospital Angeles using the plane tickets I’d already purchased, I’d sign on.  This was the choice I really wanted in the first place—I’d already done all the research on both the hospital and the surgeon and was completely confident, but saving money led me to book my own surgery.   

WorldMed Assist pulled through.  In 24 hours, they were able to get me qualified and scheduled for surgery with the doctor I’d originally selected and using my existing plane tickets.   They made it seem like it was their pleasure to finagle everything in such a time squeeze. 

The hospital was great—hospitals here are like a much older version of Hospital Angeles.  I was amazed at how completely spotless everything was.  When the patient next door to me checked out, two ladies scrubbed every square inch of her room—even the walls!  My doctors were fantastic, and WorldMed Assist stayed in close touch to make sure everything was up to my expectations.

I highly recommend using a medical tourism company, and WorldMed Assist came through from beginning to end.  Don’t try to do book everything yourself…I’m now out the $500 deposit to the other clinic because I had no intermediary working on my behalf.