Mayo Clinic Reviews

I was prescribed a medication and he not only slept thru the night for the first time, but he was a completely different child. Words can't express how grateful I am. When it comes to getting care for my loved ones, I want an expert and I found one here. This has been so hard to deal with and I have so much relief to know my son is with the best hands possible.

Shortly after my father's diagnosis, a very grim prognosis was given but the doctors said there is treatment if it's diagnosed early. Unfortunately, we were too late. My father passed away exactly two weeks after receiving his diagnosis. It was a diagnosis that the UW VA should have made years prior. It only took Mayo 48 hours and unfortunately, my father was not the first case they have seen. My father was a courageous, family oriented, God-fearing man that lived to serve others and he spread so much joy to everyone he met. I have so much gratitude for Mayo simply because they were able to give us answers. My father still lost his life, but I have peace knowing that he finally learned the truth of his disease.

When I told the doctor that I wanted my daughter to stay longer for safety reasons, the doctor threatened me that my insurance wouldn't cover any more and I'd have to pay for it. All the doctor seemed to care about was getting my mentally sick daughter out of there. The doctor seemed to have no care about her safety. I just wanted everyone with mentally ill children to know this before trusting the staff with your child. I did file a complaint with the hospital but I don't know if it will make a difference.

They called me a little more than 2 weeks, on 3/19/24) saying they had set my appointment with Dr. ** for 4/2. As soon as they notified me I booked my plane tickets. Then they called me 1 day later saying they had made a mistake and that the appointment would have to be changed to 4/3. I told them my plane tickets were already purchased (non-refundable), they would not be flexible and keep the original appointment and they told me I would not be meeting with Dr. **, but a nurse instead. I had to change my ticket. I arrived in Phoenix 4/2. My appointment was on 4/3 at 7:45AM. I arrived at least 30 minutes early and checked in. I sat in the waiting room for at least 40 minutes then someone called me up and said I would have to go to the business office.

I did, a gentleman took me into his office and said, I would have to give them a deposit of $5,500 right there, and that my insurance was not accepted. EXCUSE ME?!! $5,500 to see a nurse? Why are you just telling me this now? I was sent to the Patient Experience Office (which aught to tell you something - that they would even need such a place)! The gal (Casi), while nice, was incredibly unhelpful. She said they tried to call and left me vm's (on 4/1 and 4/2) which I didn't return. Funny thing is, when I showed my incoming phone call log to her, she could not explain why nothing was showing.

I asked that provide me with written and visual documentation that these call were made. She flat out refused, saying "this is private documentation of the hospital!" Okay, yeah right. I have documentation from 4/2 giving me a "good-faith" quote that does not say anything about my insurance not being accepted and it was NOWHERE NEAR THAT $5,500!!!! I traveled a total of 1,700 miles, spent two days off of work and incurred expenses. Now they are going to face a legal problem. These people need to be prosecuted for fraud and extortion. Them being world-class, hardly! I pity you if you are traveling to seek treatment from these miscreants. FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO GO, THIS PLACE IS EPOCHLY HORRIBLE!!!!

At least 2 of the 3 or 4 phlebotomists were acting very inappropriately, like a night at the comedy club while at least 50 people were waiting. The check-in staff is not the least bit helpful but I suppose they can't be blamed much. They must be sick of it, too. To make matters worse, the schedulers don't consider the ridiculous wait times so patients' choices are to sit there and miss other appointments or to keep those appointments and blow off the blood work. The problem with that though is that Mayo refuses to let patients have blood work done somewhere else.

To be clear...this is not a walk-in lab. It is by appointment only and by 10 a.m. or earlier the back-up and wait times are horrible. There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for this self-created mess. The management should be kicked to the curb and, until this is fixed, scheduling should be adjusted accordingly. I can't believe whoever leads the scheduling group hasn't done so already. That's probably another manager who should be sent packing. Last but not least, if you don't have a big nest egg, go someplace else. Unlike most other clinics, they do not accept Insurance providers' standard payments. Another visit or two and we will have to start paying our balance by credit card and then paying outrageous interest on that balance.

Mid sentence, he leaves the room after having me wait for 37 minutes before! He returns pissed I attained information that's for "** people only". He stated once again "I can't help you, go back to your neurologist in MPLS"!! Emphasized that I was misinformed and everything was wrong, all my research was a lie! I called once returning to MPLS, the individual answered the phone saying, that it's on the neurologist to decide who's eligible, etc. Clearly ** don't qualify!! I am searching for representation for this ignominious issue!!

My eye a month later is still in pain and my vision worse. I have to see someone else to see what damage he did. The retinologist who was supposed to come in, never bothered as she was busy planning an event she had. She, like the resident she was supposed to oversee, made me feel that she and he could care less about their patients.

Reviewing your chart or history in advance of seeing you - even for the most rudimentary information? Not done in my case either time I went there. Go elsewhere. Also, I've been to other departments here - it's a factory (as one nurse in Ophthalmology said to me!) where one gets the impression that they are out to make as much money as possible without a care for your health - again, my opinion based on my experiences there.

Mayo gets paid by the number organs the Urologist takes out, Urologist was research Doctor, clinically total unexperienced. Students and residents experience on the patients going to Mayo. As per Harvard University, no procedure on me was indicated. Mayo CEO make $3.47 million a year. The World expects patients to be treated at Mayo Clinic with fairness, respect, honesty, using the newest state-of-the-art medical technology. I underwent a brutal, devastating and disabling unnecessary surgery at that your clinic.

In May 2019, I was looking for a 2nd opinion. A Urologist outside of the Mayo Clinic performed a DRE (digital rectal exam) saying, I would have a very tiny prostate, my PSA of 4.3, "but my real PSA, he said, would in be indeed much higher, because of my tiny prostate". This urologist from outside of Mayo Clinic was recommending a total, radical prostatectomy immediately, I would have mets in my lymph nodes. "life expectancy 6 months". That Urologist did not perform a Bx of my lymph nodes.

On my request, that Urologist agreed to perform an MRI of my pelvis, which is 98% specific and sensitive, before performing a total radical prostatectomy. The MRI is done by professional urologists before the biopsy due to the spread of cancer, bleeding, infection, artifacts etc during the Bx procedure. The MRI of my prostate was negative for cancer, normal in size, no lymph node metastasis! That "experienced Urologist" was not able to palpate a prostate. My PSA spontaneously decreased from 4,3 to 3.7 after sexual abstinence.

Later on, that Urologist, from outside of Mayo, called me, saying "Some people wait for surgery with such a low PSA". It means, biopsy and surgery with such a low PSA of 3.7 on a routine exam, no clinical symptoms, were not indicated. Prostate biopsies can bear major complications, including spread of cancer, infection, pain, bleed etc. Active surveillance would have been indicated in my case.

As per urological publications/books, American College of Urology, a favorable Gleason 7 (3+4), as in was in my case, shows a decreasing PSA, whereas on a unfavorable Gleason 7 (4+3), the PSA goes up. These test results are highly susceptive of a misread of my prostate biopsy. This was later on by a Howard, Boston, Professor, confirmed, who specializes in prostate cancer pathology. He said, I would have had very, very very few Gleason 3+4 cells on my prostate Bx, normal live expectancy.

Results of Pathology slides vary, depending of experience and "politics". Whereas the PSA is a lab test which is less vulnerable to human Error and politics/experience. Only the prostate produces/makes PSA, it is a very specific test. In addition, the technique of the Bx may play a major role in regards of the Bx results. Patients come to Mayo from all over the world in order to be evaluated from the "bottom up", like H&P, physical exam, laboratory tests, MRIs, PET scans etc, not using date from outside of Mayo Clinic, since those date are most often false and unreliable.

Mayo Clinic gave a TV commercial in June 2019, saying it does use Laser treatment instead of radical prostatectomy for diseased/cancer of prostates. My second MRI at Mayo showed a tumor equal or less than 1 cm, which is- per literature, an indication of active surveillance. I made an appointment at Mayo Clinic for a second opinion and was referred to Dr. Robert **, a research urologist at Mayo Clinic. He had lots of open appointments and cancellations as well.

Dr. ** has an assignment at Mayo for research of Incontinence caused by Robotic prostate surgeries. He does only a few surgeries a year and has always "openings". He needs to show a certain number of procedures in order to keep up his surgical skills up and passes the credentialing requirements for robotic prostate surgeries. I learned after the fact, he was "behind" his surgical skills. Patients drop out on him before their scheduled surgical appointments, possible due his poor patient's recommendations. He had only 3 patient evaluations with a rating of 3.7 and worse. Mayo Clinic does not publish patient's negative doctor's evaluations but removes those a.s.a.p from the public records and may pays the publisher to remove those. Mayo Clinic is "Number One" in research, but not in patient care, what is confusing to most patients when entering the Mayo buildings.

It varies in the USA from hospital to hospital. There is no common agreements written "in stone". If a Clinic has Robots, that clinic will recommend surgery, if the clinic has skilled Proton radiation availability, proton radiation will be offered, same applies for laser or immunotherapy.

-Mayo Clinic bought a new robotic surgery machine in 2019. The urologists are kind of "forced" to use that expensive Robot as often as possible. Totally ignoring both, neither doing what is published in the Urology books nor what is good for the patient.

He has some kind of surgical skills in Robotic surgery and needs to keep them up.

He saw me as "weak link", I was by myself at the initial visit etc, who may less likely complain. He said, I would be a "good candidate for surgery" with a solid tumor of 1 cm, no previous pelvic surgeries etc. A good surgical candidate is not an indication for surgery!

Dr. ** was not present and can only go by what the resident documented.

-My initial 12 Prostate Biopsies showed a 3 Gleason 4+3 cells. The remainder were 3+4 or lower. Because the PSA -made by the prostate only- was decreasing from 4.3 (April 2019) to 3.7, my MRI was negative for cancer, normal in size, not tiny. I had no clinical symptoms I was concerned, the Biopsy, taken outside of Mayo, was altered, misread or mixed up with another patient.

I asked Dr. ** several times to repeat the biopsy. He vehemently refused. The reason being, if he would repeat the prostate biopsy and the biopsy result would have been better than original Gleason 4+3 x 3 cells, he would not have had an indication for the "very lucrative, brutal" surgery. He may have lost his license to practice robotic prostate surgery (?)

-Dr. ** knew, should have known or ignored the fact, that 75% of prostate biopsies are false. It means, 75% of prostate biopsies taken before the robotic prostate removal with a Gleason of 4+3, unfavorable Gleason 7, have indeed a Gleason of 3+4, a favorable Gleason 7 or better, taken from tissue after the surgically removed prostate. As it turned out to be in my case. My PSA was 3.7 before Surgery. Surgery on me was not indicated. Those facts are published in American urological books/literature. Not considering the long-term side effects of dementia from the anesthetic Propofol for a surgery lasting > 2 hours. I was promised by the 2nd year Resident "It lasts less than 1 hour".

Immediately after I arrived at the OR, I received an "anti-anxiety pill", which made me extremely sleepy. I was waiting the anesthesiologist to give a "Time Out", but there was none. I remember a resident came by said hello. The surgery was performed by Dr. **, his students and residents. I never allowed or signed any papers, letting students and residents experimenting on me. In addition, Dr. ** did not write the surgical reports, but signed the surgical report written by his resident instead. A very inaccurate report, using nonprofessional medical language and not mentioning the surgical complication that occurred during the lengthy,

The remedy for the pain from damage to the intercostal nerves is to do a nerve block of the nerves damaged.

I reached back out to the doctor at Mayo that had sent me a “canned message” back in 2021 asking if he thought that this had been my problem and if so could he make a recommendation. This was through the patient portal. Within the hour his assistant CALLED ME to set up an hour later to set up a Telemed visit for the NEXT DAY! Wow! When the call came in the first words out of that doctor’s mouth was, “You’ve got 5 minutes!!!” That should have been my first clue that I obviously had bruised his fragile monstrous ego. He poo pooed my idea and began reading off what were in my notes. I told him that they were completely WRONG! Then he began screaming/yelling at me and called me a liar. He really did!

I guess since I have lost count of how many ‘specialists’ I have seen and not one single one of them caught it. Chest tube placement causes nerve damage in 50% of the people that have the procedure. And of those 50% of people 30% still had nerve damage 4 years out! This is something any doctor should have learned in their early years of schooling. It’s not brain surgery!!!! I almost hung up on him but I decided I wasn’t going to let this small minded egotistical man scream over me and call me a liar and I put back on him just like he was putting it on me. Like I said, I was so sick of hurting and sick of these highly educated medical people not able to give me an answer that he just touched a nerve and I was NOT going to get my thoughts be heard.

My husband was in the other part of the house and came to see what all the yelling was about. (We were on speaker phone). He managed to hear my story about the woman I had been assigned to and her going AWOL. I don’t know what the situation with her but it was like I flipped a switch with him and he immediately calmed down and began giving me some options. I couldn’t tell you one thing he suggested as I was DONE being abused and bullied by this doctor. My husband just said to hang up on him. I quickly got off the phone. I read his after visit notes. Lies. Lies, lies. I wouldn’t carry my dog to anybody at Mayo FL!!!!

It is now 3 weeks from when I found my lump. I can’t sleep at night and have terrible anxiety. Three days later they call me and state I have cancer. I ask what do I do now? They tell me my primary care physician needs to make appointments for my breast cancer care. I breakdown, cry and state my primary care doctor has left Mayo. Without my primary care physician I am left to die. I call MCHS Red Wing and ask for a primary care physician, they state all doctors are busy and I will need to wait 10 days just to see a PA. I breakdown and cry. I am crying so hard I am sobbing. I tell the scheduler I have cancer. The scheduler then finds a PA at another MCHS site. I travel to this other site, the next day, and PA then schedules a visit 6 weeks later with the breast clinic in Rochester. This PA leaves a year later and I am without a primary care doctor again.

I speak with my sisters, mother and cousin and at my age (63 years old) I make a Decision to have both breast removed and no reconstructive surgery. I have had too many false positives and too many ultrasound and retesting that I no longer want to go through this stress again. No more mammograms! NO MORE! I meet with the breast cancer doctor along with my husband. I tell them I want both breast removed and I don’t want any plastic surgery. I want to go flat. The doctor and my husband talk me out of it and recommend a lumpectomy. I state NO, I want both breasts removed! They won’t listen to me.

The doctor then scheduled more testing which includes a procedure which pulls tissue out of my left breast with massive bleeding. They tell me the tissue is cancerous. Now my blood has been in contact with cancer cells and is circulating through my body. I go back and state I want both breasts removed. My husband and doctor argue with me that I should have a mastectomy with reconstructive breast surgery. I state I want both breast removed and I want to go flat! No one listens to me. The doctors are listening to my husband while ignoring me. I have a mastectomy with a nipple sparing surgery. Dr ** is awesome and meets with me prior to surgery. Doctors tells me there is no cancer in any lymph nodes and margins are clear. No chemo is needed.

I meet with another doctor who is taking care of my breast cancer treatment after surgery. I am just a number at this hospital, nothing more. She tells me I need to have chemo because I have a 7 percent chance cancer could return. I am so upset I breakdown and cry and state I don’t want chemo and my other doctor told me I wouldn’t have to have it! She insists I do chemo. I do 4 rounds of chemo. It destroys my veins in my feet. It destroys my veins so bad they can’t get an IV into my veins for my reconstructive surgery several months later. My veins are so destroyed I get neuropathy!

My doctor puts me on estrogen blocking drugs. I have serious side effects. Severe depression, changes in personality and osteoporosis. I go back to doctor and state I can’t do these drugs. She then prescribes more drugs. Anti depressants, ** for my osteoporosis etc. I ask doctor if I change my diet, put myself into ketosis and exercise more can I get off the estrogen blocking drugs? She tells me NO. Exercise and diet don’t help, just these drugs, which lower my chance of cancer returning by 8 percent!

I am on my 3rd estrogen blocking drug and start ** infusions, which have serious side effects. The estrogen blocking drugs give me brain fog. I work at a call center and can’t concentrate on my calls. I blank out on calls and can’t remember things. It is effecting my job performance and my relationship with my husband and friends. I cry every day. The drugs have changed my personality. I read an article that estrogen is very important for reducing Alzheimer’s. Women’s Alzheimer’s has skyrocketed. I ask doctor if these drugs are now being linked to Alzheimer’s? She said maybe, a little, but we are more concerned with breast cancer then Alzheimer’s.

I go to Mayo for my annual mammogram on my right breast. The technician demands to do a mammogram on my fake left breast. I tell her NO, she only needs to do my right breast. This is fake. She does it anyway and finds many issues and starts taking many images! She then schedules an ultrasound. My anxiety goes through the roof. I start to cry and state I wanted both breast removed so that I never have to go through this stress again! I tell the ultrasound technician to find my last ultrasound done 6 months ago, after I get an infection in the fake breast. My fake breast is prone to infections and I wish I had just removed both of my breasts so that I don’t have to go through this stress again! They find my last ultrasound and state they are the same, no change.

This was my last straw! I am done with Mayo! I have transferred my care to Healthpartners and I have an oncologist who listens to my concerns. If you are an older woman, like me, remove both breasts and find a doctor that listens to you and doesn’t push drugs and procedures.

1st appointment, went up to checking, no biggie. The ** man (why I say that Is he was the only color man working that day and he needs to be let go) slaps down this joke of a laminated paper with these expression faces in how I am feeling in the urge to urinate, I told him I am not sure between the 2, then he says if I don't know then I will be told to reschedule, I was instantly disappointed right then there, so I tried to contain my emotions, get back and pee in this joke of a funnel measuring device, ok, fine, done this before. Then put in another room and laid down where she scanned my bladder, she said "nothing in my bladder". Ok, so I had been going pee all morning, hard to hold, then knew it wouldn't be long that I would have to do it again, that room with the little funnel then the scan of my bladder. Ok, fine.

Now next appointment 2 hours later. So, here we are in a different department in a different level, asked me to pee in a cup in a major used bathroom, tons of people in and out. Done my business, have cup in hand as I'm carrying my pee around in public up to a desk, right in front of God and everyone. They have it now, along with that other sample earlier, god knows what happened to that sample. Now here we are another couple of hours to see the actual doctor. She did ok, explained options and what not.

I am not sure if they don't read and care on what I had responded to in all of my answers 3 months prior and or medical records and even care to maybe make a video medical call to get everything in check before this day so I'm not just hanging for another freaking 2 months to actually get the problem solved. I waited this long, and was so excited to get my bladder In check and not be bothered by it at work and life. Nope!! Now I have no more time off, thank you very much for wasting my time.

Original review: I am a health care professional and I would state that Mayo Clinic has none. They refused to look at any of my records that I brought including MRI reports, the actual discs and a detailed summary by a neurologist. All they did was to state how important they were and it was the MAYO way. Customer Service supported my less than 15 minute visit stating I was lucky to have any appointment. They refused to look at a critical MRI of the lumbar spine. How can they call themselves a health care center?

Please note that we were willing to wait in line for an appointment, up to a reasonable point. But, instead, we’re basically tossed to the curb like garbage. No human response, no offer for a teleconference visit, no nothing. I guess we are all in the age of poor patient care anymore as this ** Organization has shown us. There is a special place in Hell for you people. Thank you allowing my wife to continue to suffer with no resolution for her symptoms. Hopefully this posting is helpful for others hoping for assistance.

The general surgeon on the floor after she was re-admitted for complications told me it is Mayo Clinic policy NOT to use tools at their disposal that could help - like pain pumps, or even scheduled pain medication. This leaves the patient or their parent/partner having to request pain medicine, wait on a nurse to show up in the room, wait on the nurse to email the doctor, wait on the doctor to consult with the colorectal or other specialty team, wait on a decision, wait on the pharmacy, and then wait for an ineffective dose to be administered, sometimes hours later. It’s been horrific.

On top of that, my daughter laid in bed, naked, with soiled bedding for hours. I changed her myself many times because help took so long to arrive and her skin was damaged already. I bought my own supplies at Target for her. Nothing is offered - not even pillowcases or clean blankets or washcloths - I had to request them each time and consistently felt I was inconveniencing staff with my pleas for basic tools to make my daughter comfortable. She got a UTI while there - unsurprisingly. I sit here as I write this at 2 am listening to her vomit past her NG tube while we have waited more than 30 minutes for a nurse to help us. Go anywhere else but here.

Original Review: Aug. 17, 2023

Been going for years (It's my best option around). Staff seems friendly, but unknowledgeable at times. Rochester is a beautiful city, and overall I think Mayo is a good place. I just wish they weren't so...arrogant(?) Nothing is perfect though.

The phone rang at the appointed time. I was asked for my name and birthdate. The Mayo representative - clearly not a medical professional - announced that Mayo does not accept my insurance (Medicare and United Health Care) and "will not be able to offer an appointment." The treatment I received was cold, completely uncalled for, and disrespectful.

In the first place, why not simply send an email or pick up the phone to let me know right away that the insurance was not acceptable? Time kept marching on while I waited for the phone appointment. And in the second place, how is it that Mayo does not accept Medicare Advantage and United HealthCare? This seems like standard-issue almost universal health coverage. What insurance DO you accept? This has been a horrible experience at a particularly vulnerable time.

No one there cares about anything except the money they get from filling the 12 week schedule. No waitlist, no help, no compassion, no actual healing for those who may actually be dying. Literally: screw this place. I don’t care if they have the best doctors, they are awful to potential patients. The ones scheduled and paying….that’s another story. Healthcare is supposed to be there to fix the ill. They are not.