This past week I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I meet with Dr. Edward Loftus who is really the person you want to see if you have inflammatory bowel disease. I found Dr. Loftus in my research on studies that had been related to Crohn’s. I was actually surprised in how quickly I was able to get an appointment. When I called Mayo had an appointment the following week from when I called (however my schedule was busy that week) so I made an appointment for the week after and was very surprised by this. Getting an appointment with even my regular GI can take a few weeks or possibly a month. According to PubMed Loftus has written over 190peer reviewed articles. Nearly all of the articles are IBD related and a large portion of those are Crohn’s related. He also served as an editor board of various peer reviewed journals.
Dr. Loftus spend a lot of time answering the questions both my father and I had. In our two visits I had we spent close to an hour with him which would probably be equal to 4 or 5 visits with a regular GI. We must have asked at least 20 questions total. Sometimes doctors who do a lot of research are not the most practical doctors. I felt Dr. Loftus was very reasonable in his recommendations and advice. One thing I found interesting was that doctors at the Mayo Clinic are paid on salary which leads to different incentives. I thought it was nice that nearly all of the doctors I could see wore a suit and tie instead of the traditional white lab coat. Not only did he spend time with us he was in top of the field in terms of the studies that were being done and research and you can tell this is his main focus. Dr. Loftus is an inspiration for anyone to be at the top of their game in whatever field that happen to be in.
I am happy with the doctors I currently have but Dr. Loftus really was a cut above the rest. Granted Dr. Loftus focuses on IBD which is a subset of gastroenterology which is actually a subset of internal medicine. Whatever the case may be I felt like a satisfied customer and can see why 50% of his patients come out of state to visit him.
The only downside I saw was that I wish Dr. Loftus and the Mayo Clinic are far away from where I live. However, to me Dr. Loftus seems to be the person you want to see if you have IBD.