Dr. Phillip James Skaar, MD

My mother and I had a terrible experience with Mayo Clinic in Bloomer and the Emergency Department in Eau Claire. My 78-year-old mother had some medical issues going on and what the previous doctors advised her to do to treat it wasn’t working. One night she had a medical episode that was very concerning, so the next day I made an appointment with a doctor. My husband took my mom to Mayo Clinic in Bloomer. When they got in the room with the doctor my husband called me so I could update the doctor as to what was going on with my mother, because she was living with me at the time. I told him about the episode the night before and informed him as to what had been going on in the last few weeks and what she was doing to treat it. The doctor also made the comment that my mom had lost 6 pounds in a week, which was concerning to him. He then ordered some testing to be done on my mom. The next day I contacted Mayo to see what they had found out as my mother was anxious to hear what they had to… say and what they could do to help her. I spoke to a nurse. She told me that the tests came back normal and that the doctor recommended to continue with the same treatment she had been doing. I argued with the nurse and said why would my mom continue doing the same treatment if it isn’t working? I told her that further testing needed to be done to accurately diagnose the problem. I mean isn’t that what a doctor is supposed to do? That is one of the legal responsibilities of the doctor according to the “Duty of Care,” which providers are supposed to abide by. I also told her that the situation had been going on too long and that we needed to get the correct treatment to her soon. She ignored my concerns. The next day I got a call from another Bloomer nurse, not knowing that I had already talked to a nurse the previous day. Not sure how they communicate with one another. Again, this nurse said the same thing, that my mom was supposed to continue with the same treatment. I argued with the nurse and told her that further testing needed to be done, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She became agitated and short with me. Finally in a sarcastic tone she said “Well then make another appointment, but you better do it today, because we are so far booked out that your mother won’t be able to get in for a while.” I did make an appointment for my mother, but unfortunately the appointment was booked so far out that she died before getting to that appointment. Nurses also have what is called a “Duty of Care.” It was the responsibility of those two nurses to convey my concerns to the doctor and unfortunately neither did this. This was a breach of duty! If Dr. Skaar would’ve continued with more testing he would’ve found the problem and my mom would still be here. I had Mayo do an investigation on this. After the investigation was completed I met with person in charge of the investigation to go over his findings. The investigation was an embarrassment to the doctor completing the investigation and to Mayo? His answers made no sense and he tried to intimidate me from going further with this by stating that I could never prove that Mayo was negligent and that it would be a long, expensive process. I knew then that Mayo did not care about their patients and that their only concern was to make sure they never have to take responsibility for their actions.