Mahrukh M Hussain M.D. | Kaiser Permanente 655 Watkins Mill Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20879

"Dr. Hussain really needs to work on tempering hope with the reality of a patient's diagnosis. When mom was diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Hussain told her that one the course of treatment that was being offered, my mom could have 10 years left. Then when she didn't respond well to the cancer drugs, the estimate went down to 5 years. At no point did Dr. Hussain explain to my mom the severity of her illness, what stage it was, and she did not take the time to go over my mother's scans and films to show her the extent of the metastases. What my mom heard was, "you could live for 10 more years", but what she should have been told is that an outlier patient with that level of success did not already have the extent of damage my mom had. Additionally, Dr. Hussain, in her carelessness, misdiagnosed the extent of the metastases. My only guess is that she did not thoroughly review the films showing a complete cut off and total lack of visualization in the lumbar spine. That combined with my mom's complaints of neurological symptoms should have been enough to send her to a neurologist for further testing in February of last year. But instead, she wasn't paid attention to until April, and by then the leptomeningeal disease had fully set it. Dr. Hussain also attempted to use my mother as a guinea pig by offering her an EXTREMELY dangerous course of treatment that has a very low success rate. There was never any data to support my mother undergoing intrathecal chemotherapy. I eventually had to push Dr. Hussain to level with my mom about her illness and what the best course should have been-- hospice. If Dr. Hussain had treated my mother with dignity and like a human being who was suffering instead of like a number to meet a quota (they way that Kaiser Permanente as a whole views patients), then we would have had access to hospice and comfort care and all of the resources associated with that much earlier on. Dr. Hussain needs to work on the following: bed side manner, responsiveness, being honest with patients about their illness, and paying better attention to patients when they share what's going on with them physically. My mom deserved better, even if the outcome over her dying would not have changed. She deserved better."

"She is by far the worst doctor I’ve had experience with. I called her office twice today nobody has picked up. She takes forever to email me back. She is a pain in the ***. If I could I’d give her negative 5 stars. Please do better some of your patients are in dire conditions of your help but you are no where to be found. With my cancer treatments going I’ve meet numerous amounts of doctors and by far she is the worst. Please avoid her if possible and don’t go to her unless you enjoy being mistreated and don’t care for your life. Worst of regards to dr Husain"

"It is the best oncologist one can find. Very knowledgeable, experienced, considerate, helpful, goes out of her for her patients. She is also very perspicuous when explaining medical terms and step by step treatment. Dr.Hussain also accommodates not only her patients needs but also the ones who take care of them: just as an example, she chose the radiation treatment center that is not only close to our home (Cancer Center at Gaithersburg) but considering the fact that my dad doesn't drive and I can't take him to the treatment every day for 6 weeks, made sure that this center provides complimentary door to door transportation. I would highly recommend Dr.Hussain as a highly qualified oncologist and caring person."