We want to first apologize to our patients and thank all of you who have supported us thru this tiresome situation. India Price was an independent coordinator that helped many of you here on the forums learn more about our surgical practice, doctors, and staff. We have tried to avoid any public display with this matter that may cause embarrassment to Ms. Price as we all have had a sincere relationship with her during her time with our company. Please understand the reason she no longer represents our group is because she failed to provide required documents from human resources that we are required by law to have in order to continue to pay her commissions. We can only contract to individuals that have a legal status to work and India has refused to provide such documents.

We hope that this situation will be resolved, however, she has not represented our group from some time now, and will not be representing our group in the future due to other indiscretions that have come to our attention from patients and individuals she has worked with.

We also wish to explain our reasoning behind no longer allowing India to represent our doctors on Facebook group. We believe our groups should be moderated by the patients of our doctors and that free speech should be allowed throughout. India was utilizing multiple facebook groups representing our primary doctor in order to attract individuals to our group in demand of a commission. Social groups are not allowed, nor designed, to be sales tools but instead we desire forums of free discussion for our patients absent of sales pressure. India was engaging and misleading patients that she was "the" doctor” and we find this to be beyond unacceptable Within a reasonable time frame and with all haste we will assign 'patient' admins to these groups and restore integrity to these groups.

We sincerely apologize to our patients for this entire situation and continue to desire to resolve this situation with an open mind and heart and in the best interest of our patients.

Sincerely,
Henry Cortez

"Social groups are not allowed, nor designed, to be sales tools but instead we desire forums of free discussion for our patients absent of sales pressure." I sure hope this was addressed to Judy, since she has driven many away from a specific support group for this exact thing.

I agree with your statement that social groups should not be used as tools for luring people to a particular Dr. There are those that "pretend" they are "just a patient" and message the newbies on this site and vertical sleeve talk to try to get them to schedule with the Dr they work form instead of the Dr the person has already chosen. This situation happened to me. As soon as I introduced myself and said I was considering the surgery, I received several inbox messages saying I should go to Dr Q, he has a 0% leak rate, he's the only Dr that does this that or the other, I could go on and on. The the person you believe is trying to share their experience as a patient, gives you the phone number to their husband, partner, whatever you want to call him, and so you're basically tag teamed. I was so uneasy about this situation, I was going to even change Dr's due to the, but GUESS WHAT when I started looking at other Dr's, like Dr Ponce De Leon, it wasn't even his website, it had been hijacked by someone that works for another Dr........I'll stop here, but I just wish the coordinator that contacted me initially would have been HONEST and instead of pretending to be just a patient she should have also said she was a coordinator.

Anyway, some people won't think this is a big deal, but it made me uneasy. I did end up having a good experience with Dr Q and his anesthesiologist. He took the time to explain everything to me and was not hurried in any way before the surgery, he answered all my questions. I'm an RN, and during my hospital stay, there were some things about the nursing care that I would have done differently, but we also see this in the US hospitals.....a lack of good nursing care.

I don't know India personally, but there's always two sides to every story.

My experience is this.....I talked to both Henry and India....I scheduled the surgery thru whoever answered the phone. I had surgery (spinal block wasn't disclosed and is still causing me grief) had a wonderful experience However....I'm still waiting for Henry to follow thru on the promised video(dvd) and medical records. India was very supportive in attempting to get these items but alas I'm still empty handed.

I'm very quiet when it comes to these types of matters and like to keep out of the drama, but I would like to make a brief comment.

The reason I went with Dr. Q in the beginning was because there was a no-pressure sales approach. I was not bombarded with people trying to get me to go to Dr. Q, and everything appeared very genuine and a more relaxed approached in comparison with some other high-volume Mexico doctors. Some of the patient coordinators for the other doctors would hound me day in and day out via text messages, calls, and emails. I'm the type of girl that I like to go shopping and do not like talking to sales people; just leave me alone and let me shop-- I will come to you if I need anything. So, the coordinators for the other doctors were very overbearing for me and it really turned me off. Those other doctors could have been the greatest doctors in the Northern hemisphere, but the high-pitch sales method left a bad taste in my mouth. I was refreshed to find Dr. Q and not be bombarded by insane, crazed, patient coordinators. I spoke with a girl on here that had surgery with him, and I viewed the posts and blog of India, watched Judy post about the day getting closer and saving money. I spoke on the phone with Henry and did not feel pressured, he laid out all of the facts very plainly; an honest approach. In my profession, I deal with a lot of people that attempt to twist facts and sell half-versions of the truth, and I didn't feel this was the type of approach given to me by Henry or anyone else. Everything seemed fine. I was comfortable with Dr. Q's staff and my dealings with them.

I had a "long engagement" prior to actually having surgery with Dr. Quinones-- I 'committed' in September 2012, but did not actually have surgery until April 2013. So, I really kind of "lived with" the group of other patients via the boards and Facebook prior to the surgery, and in this time, I saw the shift and change in the group...

Suddenly, Henry was no longer the only coordinator. Coordinators were being added, everything seemed okay, but then the competition started. Then the bitching (pardon my French) started... Then the drama. Honestly, it was sickening... and it makes my stomach churn just thinking about it. I cannot stand drama. I particularly cannot stand drama amongst grown-ass females. It's too much, and I have to stay away from it. I've not posted a lot lately, I've just done my own thing and stayed away from the forums and the Facebook group. The drama is too much to handle.

With regards to the DVD's and medical records-- I don't really have any comment in regards to that. It does appear some people are displeased with regards to this. I will tell you, from my standpoint, I went into this with no expectations in regards to medical records or a DVD, so I do not feel as passionately as those that were promised these items. But, as a business owner, I would recommend to make these people a priority in receiving the items they were promised. I know initially it will be a bit of a task and be a bit of an undertaking, but unfortunately, an agent acting on behalf of the medical group promised these items-- and by proxy it is your due diligence to honor that. So, like I said, I understand it will take a little bit of man power to get this going, but once all of these few people are taken care of it will be a huge obstacle out of the way and you'll have happy customers. Just explain from that point going forward, anyone else who requests or requires these items will need to pay the $50 fee. I think that is a good business move and that price point is not unreasonable for the future patients that would like these items. Doctors in the states require $10-$30 payments just to fill out disability forms, $10 for an MRI disc, $250 for a narrative report for a disability rating, etc...

As for me, I guess I've never really commented on how my trip went, so here it is: It went very well. I felt very safe, happy, and taken care of while I was with Henry, Alma, Dr. Q, Eddie, and Mayra. I was taken great care of. I even made a new friend. I felt everything was appropriate. I'm doing well. I've lost 73lbs in only 13 weeks. I've even gone down a shoe size. Anyway, I highly recommend Dr. Q and his staff and feel my surgery was a great success. I finally feel like I can start moving forward with my life. I am living happier and am a shining example of how WLS can change someone's life. If it wasn't for this great group of people, I would not have been able to afford this surgery otherwise in my hometown as the cost is 5x that of Dr. Q. So, thanks again.

Happy times.

<3 K

I agree with everything Platinum said and I am one of those unhappy that never got my DVD. Pretty sure I never will as I have been completely ignored 100% of the time. Im now almost 9 months out. What else can a person do to get it. Can we sue? I mean that may sound crazy but whats the alternative. Its obvious no one cares to actually get it done. I too notice all the drama on here so I barely come on anymore and no one likes my honesty anyway.. Happy with everything except lack of professionalism from coordinators and also wish my sleeve was smaller. I can eat way more that I wanted and im struggling to keep it under control to keep losing.. But im still losing.. down 58 pounds .. 22 to go but dont see how since I now am hungry a lot and eat more than I should.. But thats all my fault and not really on topic.. Id love my dvd.