Natale ablations in Southern CA

I've recently PM'ed a poster who had an ablation with Natale in San Diego Scripps hospital, and was wondering if anyone else on this forum has had ablations with Dr. Natale in San Diego, or Thousand Oaks Los Robles hospital and would share their experiences of the facilities.
Thanks.

I’ve had multiple Natale ablations and various follow ups (TEEs, Watchman, etc) at Scripps over the past few years.

I have had nothing but 100% positive experiences at Scripps.

It’s a great facility filled with great people. I highly recommend it.

I had a Natale ablation with LAA at Los Robles in Thousand Oaks in early 2021 amd a followup TEE there. I live about 150 miles away so I drove there. Both procedures were completed in less than 12 hospital hours each, primarily because the hospital wanted the labs and physical done at the hospital the day before. I spent two nights in Thosand Oaks for the ablation and one for the TEE beacuse I like to be the first procedure of the day in any medical setting.

In 2007 I had my first Natale ablation in a large Northern CA hospital and what a difference in patient treatment between the two. Los Robles is in a suburban neighborhood with good hotels and restaurants within 15 minutes. The only limiting things are 7X24 transortaion is unreliable and its located perhaps 90 minutes from both LAX and SBA airports. Public transortation from/to those airports shouldn't be considered.

I'm still in NSR but should I need a third procedure its back to Los Robles for me.

Perhaps Susan D. will weigh in on this. She's had far more experience with that hospital and staff than I.

I’ve PM’d you.

But in summary in the past 5-6 years and continuing follow up to today, I had 1 Natale ablation in Austin, followed by 3 more at Scripps, in addition to a Watchman at Scripps.

My Aunt has had 3 ablations and a Watchman at Scripps during the same time.

It has literally been flawless and we can’t recommend Scripps and the people there highly enough. To me personally, it’s the best hospital and personnel I’ve ever encountered, hands down. We are so grateful for them, and for being within driving distance. They’ve made a huge difference in getting us through this difficult process of slaying this beast (we’re both difficult cases and both in NSR).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2023 10:15AM by Mac.

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Perhaps Susan D. will weigh in on this. She's had far more experience with that hospital and staff than I.

I’m a Natale fan but I’m not at all a fan of los Robles. I had 4 ablation at Robles. Hospital is great. Staff and dietary are fantastic. Private room can’t be beat.

Unfortunately Dr N is only there 3 days a month and his NP has nobody on call when N is away and she is working from home or not full time at Robles for rounds. A 3 day a month EP maybe great, if like others, they had no complications. That is hard to predict. However if you do I recommend a full time attending EP or at least another EP on call.

There were times (I was admitted 12 times in November) when I had nobody and my flutter was not converted by drugs nor ECV. I just rotted in the hospital bed until I switched because I needed someone to treat me. For ablation #4 I chose someone else who was there to treat me.

I think you should fly to Austin. They have rotating NP on call and even Dr N told me his imaging and state of the art equipment is superior.