Gastroenterology at Mayo Clinic

Look, I’m speaking from direct experience here.
I’ve dealt with a ton of health issues over the last few years, which meant spending way too much time visiting various departments at the Mayo Clinic.

Problems exist everywhere, sure, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Department of Gastroenterology is the absolute worst ward in the entire hospital. It is pure hell on earth.

Everything inside those rooms and the hallways around them is ancient and falling apart. I'm talking rusted mirrors, cracked tiles, broken sinks, peeling paint everywhere, busted cabinets, and bathrooms without even a scrap of toilet paper or a seat... The rooms are so overcrowded that there's always an extra bed crammed into every single one.

And don't even get me started on the medical staff. You rarely see this level of arrogance, aggression, and straight-up rudeness. Doctors breeze past patients once a day for maybe sixty seconds—and they don't even bother to say anything! Nurses show up slightly more often, maybe 3 or 4 times a day, but mostly, patients are just left to fend for themselves. (I actually saw an elderly patient in critical condition who wasn't checked on once the entire afternoon, and the man just passed away right there).
They set up IVs that won't even flow, and some nurses can't even hit a vein after five attempts. Most of the time, you're stuck begging a nurse just to get the medication you were actually prescribed.
As for the actual treatment? The main strategy in Gastroenterology seems to be "do absolutely nothing and wait for the patient to recover on their own." They'll leave you without food or water for a week until you're nothing but skin and bones. (Seriously, if anyone is struggling to lose weight, just check yourself into this Department!) Because they hold onto every patient twice as long as necessary, the ward is perpetually packed and the rooms are always overflowing.

Bottom line: I'm telling everyone to steer clear of the Department of Gastroenterology at all costs. If you have stomach issues, try to figure something out on your own.

I second everything you said. I was in that exact same position a few years back—dealing with these constant abdominal pains that made eating almost impossible. I ended up in the ER several times, always in the middle of the night. When I finally got a referral, I ended up with Dr. person, though honestly, I’d rather just call him Mr. person, because the guy lacks even the most basic manners. He doesn't even bother with a "hello" or "goodbye." To him, a patient is just someone stealing his precious free time—just some insignificant thing that doesn't matter to his massive ego. It wasn't worth anything. The pain kept coming, and I dropped five pounds (and I didn't even have extra to lose), so I started looking for any way possible to get a real diagnosis. Along the way, I went for a few private exams, but they turned up nothing. An MRI? You're looking at a year-long wait. Someone told me that if I had a connection, I could actually talk to one of the doctors, so I managed to reach a department head. After paying him $100 under the table, he admitted me to the ward overnight, got me an MRI the very next day, and then moved straight into a gastroscopy and colonoscopy—all at once, and without anesthesia.
The whole thing required traveling to New York City for the endoscopy, but I just ran headfirst into whatever alternative I could find—though I didn't have many options left since I was completely broke.
I feel better now, but then this autoimmune disease hit me—it's truly awful, and now I'm right back at square one. You can't get in to see a rheumatologist, you can't get the medication you need... Honestly, the entire Mayo Clinic is a total nightmare!!! My husband was in neurology once, and that's when it clicked for me—I realized that I could, quite coldly and without a shred of regret, kill one of them just to ensure I wouldn't end up in prison. 😲 Some of those nurses were so repulsive I don't even have the words; there was a woman screaming because she was thirsty and needed water—she couldn't even move—and a nurse just snapped at her, telling her to stop whining and refused to give her a drink. 😢 Mayo Clinic is a rotting institution full of corrupt doctors and neurotic nurses. I think it's one of the worst hospitals in America, and it’ll stay that way because they can get away with it. They act like they're tough, but when it comes down to it, they're just cowards who accept injustice when it's dealt to others, yet will fight tooth and nail through bribery the moment it affects them.