LEWISTON – After 22 years as the area’s only gastric bypass surgeon, Dr. Gregory D’Augustine is quitting that part of his practice.
The stomach-shrinking procedure’s gotten too pricey.
D’Augustine said his liability insurance for the current year cost about $18,000. The quote from Medical Mutual Insurance for the coming year: $45,000.
If he gives up gastric, it’s less than half that.
The procedure’s booming popularity nationwide, the subsequent “rash of lawsuits” and bumped up premiums are “another example of how the system is out of whack,” D’Augustine said.
D’Augustine has performed 40 surgeries a year at Central Maine Medical Center, reducing the stomachs of morbidly obese patients to the size of an egg.
He’ll stop in August. There’s 150 people on his waiting list.
“These cases are very stressful, they are high-risk. They tend to be very grateful patients,” he said.
In chance timing, as D’Augustine bows out, CMMC spokesman Chuck Gill said the hospital will roll out a new comprehensive weight management center over the next six to eight months with its own gastric bypass specialist, Dr. Jamie Loggins, in August.
The center, with a nutritionist, endocrinologist and Loggins, will be for anyone with weight issues, dealt with surgically or not. “It’ll be a tremendous asset to people,” Gill added.
There’s no estimate on how many surgeries Loggins will do each week.
“He’s used to being very busy and there’s an ongoing need,” he said.
D’Augustine broke the news to his gastric support group Monday night. Some pre-operative patients were disappointed and angry.
Tracie Dubois, who leads the support group with her husband, said one woman talked about getting on the waiting list for a doctor in Augusta, only to have him retire. Having waited for D’Augustine, she was nervous starting anew a third time.
“She’s freaking out, ‘I don’t want to wait any longer and go through this again,'” Dubois said the woman told her.
She said this summer they will be at a loss to describe to potential patients what to expect since the new doctor will likely have his own routines.
The Sun Journal chronicled Tracie and Travis as they both underwent surgery and went on to lose 355 pound between them. Tracie developed a temporary ulcer after surgery and Travis had complications in the hospital. They’ve both been fine since.
“I think this new center is really going to be a good thing,” said Travis Dubois. It has the chance to cater to obese patients: chairs and couches that fit, beds for larger people, staff that see that surgery more often.
“If you’re going to have four, five, six patients a week, that’s going to change. I think the care is going to be better,” he said.
A small number of doctors in Maine perform gastric bypass surgery.
In Augusta, MaineGeneral is awaiting the arrival of a new hire to fill a spot left when that area’s sole gastric surgeon retired, according to a spokesperson.
D’Augustine said five years ago, he and one other surgeon were the only physicians doing them in Maine.
Demand has since swelled, with more than 700 surgeries performed in 2004.
He will continue his practice as a general surgeon.
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