Would You Recommend Your Heart Surgeon?

I would strongly recommend my doctor, Joseph J. DeRose Jr. at 718 405 8571. He is the Director of Minimally Invasive Surgery and Robotic Surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York.

I would recommend my Surgeon, Dr. Michael Acker, of The Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania. I had Aortic Valve replacement surgery. I had a cardiac catherization performed in a hospital in new jersery. I wanted the best on short notice. Dr. Acker responded to my plea and his office arranged my transfer within hours and performed my surgery 2 days later. He assured me and my family that he would take good care of me and I would be fine. He made me feel confident that all would go well. His skill and his support team were the best. I have recoverd nicely and I am forever thankful that he did indeed take good care of me.

I would ABSOLUTELY recommend Dr. William Ryan in Dallas/Plano, TX. He is a master of the Ross procedure…which he performed on me. The new Heart Hospital of Plano is state-of-the-art and the care is outstanding (menu of food is unbelievable…if you feel like eating). So, YES, I would absolutely recommend Dr. William Ryan and I have many times since my Ross procedure on 2/12/08.

I would recommend my heart surgeon Dr. Divikar Mandapoti at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. The BEST, kind, considerate, concerned a Michaelangelo in his field. I had CABG X 4 done in Jan. 2008 and my second recommendation is for my Vascular Surgeon Dr. Edward Marcaccio of RI Hospital he just performed Carotid Artery surgery on me May 28, 2008 another Michaelangelo in his field.

I had Mitral Valve repair using a robotic assisted device at the Cleveland Clinic on June 19th. My surgeon was Dr. Tomislav Mihaljevic and I strongly recommend both the surgeon and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. I live outside Boston and traveled to Cleveland to have this important surgery and would do it again.

What if your health insurance doesn’t cover “out-of-network” surgery? I can’t believe that everyone who goes to places like the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo have their surgeries paid for by their insurance. What kind of a cost are we talking about? I don’t want to have to declare bankruptcy if I can’t pay my hospital bills.

Drew Kirshner, M.D. performed quintuple bypass surgery on me at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore in December, 2007. The only pain I experienced after surgery was back pain due to the fact that i couldn’t sleep on my side for a month.

I would HIGHLY recommend Dr. Steven Bolling out of University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor for mitral valve repair. He has performed hundreds of these surgeries, he is highly skilled and the facility is first-rate. Furthermore, his entire team of nurses, physicians’ assistants, and other support staff are all highly skilled, knowledgable, and friendly as well — particularly Marguerite who went above and beyond for myself and my family. Five weeks after having my annuloplasty band surgically implanted through my chest, all limitations were lifted and I was back to my old self. The scar is even smaller and fainter than expected!