Dr. Ronald Jack Hapke, MD

He writes horrible notes , filled with repeating cut and paste , filler notes. Ordered a Smart pill test , his office checked my insurance, Now my insurance company refuses to pay 3400 . He wont advocate for you , and the chart notes have no clear explanation as to why this test was needed. He failed me horribly

Excellent physician. Really nice person, explains your condition and how to work with it well.

great experience

He has the best bed side manner of any doctor I have ever had. He listens carefully to your issues and makes sure you understand his answers. His colonoscopy was painless and he and his staff were very kind and professional. He is the best.

I loved seeing Dr. Hapke and I really miss him since moving to California. You can't go wrong - he is a very caring and vigilant docter -- he stays on top of your case and things do not slip through the cracks.

I presented to Hapke with Upper Left Quadrant pain (under ribs 8,9,10). Although I was having heartburn on occasion, that is not why I came to see him. He ran the typical blood tests (liver function test panel, cholesterol). Liver panel came back with higher than normal AST and ALT but cholesterol was very low (in fact HDL was too low I found out from another doctor). Ultrasound images showed fatty liver. I had a disabling back injury many years prior and as it turns out I was over-dosing on extra strength Excedrin and Tylenol daily. He advised ceasing both OTCs and not to ever use them or any kind of NSAID (including Rx) for the rest of my life. With the hiatal hernia he diagnosed GERD and recommended a gastro endoscope, which revealed an ulcer (non-bacterial) and confirmed the hiatal hernia. Several Rx for the GERD were tried, to little effect and some made it worse, so had to be stopped. A follow up endoscopy found the original ulcer had healed but new ulcers had appeared in different areas, even though all OTCs had been ceased. After over a year he still had not addressed the ULQ pain, which was worsening. When pressed he recommended a colorectal endoscopy to check the colon. During the procedure, he was not able to push the scope past a thick stool at the splenic flexure of the colon and stopped the procedure. He did not think anything of the presence of this stool even though I reminded him that I had fasted for nearly 24 hours (which was much more than the required time) and taken laxatives to ensure the colon was clear. His response to the ULQ pain was to say that it wasn't internal; that it was skeletal and recommended I see an orthopedist (but wouldn't give me a referral). I saw an orthopedist (who I had seen previously for other issues) and he said that Hapke didn't know what he was talking about. There was no way it could be skeletal, that it has to be internal. I returned to Hapke and told him my orthopedist's findings and Hapke became very agitated. He practically shouted at me that "there is nothing in that area" that could be causing pain. (Personal research shows that the pain is in the area where the splenic flexure of the colon, the tail of the pancreas and the spleen reside.) I have not seen Hapke since and will not, and I can't recommend him. Hapke is fine to see if your condition is pedestrian in nature, and he's more than happy to run routine tests and procedures (which are the money makers). But if you have anything that requires additional effort to diagnose, he acts put out by you. I must agree with the former reviewer about the over weight comments. He used the same "sit around and eat all the time" statements on me. (I by no means do that. I am as active as my disability allows me to be. And his BMI is MUCH higher than mine.) This seems to be a point that he uses to dismiss you when he doesn't want to deal with you anymore, or has tapped out your insurance. (His office staff I also found to be blunt and look generally unhappy.)

Dr. Hapke is a nice enough and professional doctor that knows his stuff. But God forbid you are overweight. Then, he thinks it's okay to tell you that you shouldn't sit around and eat all the time. I found this comment completely RUDE since for one thing, the guy is not slim himself and two, I am as heavy as I am for several medical reasons that he never even checked my chart to see why. Anything I tried to tell him, he would dismiss and look at me like I was some type of idiot or something. What a jerk!