Dr. Richard Riyad Barakat, MD

I had stage 4 ovarian cancer but thanks to the wonderful long and complicated surgery performed by dr Barakat and extensive follow up chemo at MSK, I am healthy ,very much alive, actively playing golf, swimming, cycling and for many years still running. I am eternally grateful to his expertise. It was definately worth the long wait for a consultation and to be the 43rd of 44 patients he had to see that day. I owe my life to him and the MSK staff.

Wait is too long. Doesn't spend enough time with his patients. He does not follow up. Felt very concerned that reports and scans were not read prior to office visits. Do not recommend.

I'm a 30-year survivor of fallopian tube cancer, and I owe my life, as well as my sanity, to Dr. Barakat. He took over when my original surgeon left the hospital, and he operated on me when I had my third(!) recurrence in 2009. He is reassuring, kind, comforting and funny; explains everything clearly, without talking down to patients. Yes, you sometimes have to wait for hours to see him. But that's because he's the best. I'm willing to wait.

I am a 20 year survivor of cervical cancer. I was referred to Dr. Barakat by my gynecologist for a radical hysterectomy. Due to the location of the tumor, he could not remove everything. I am alive and well today because of Dr. Barakat's skill as a surgeon and the wonderful radiation team at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I highly recommend Dr. Barakat.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and unfortunately had my mastectomy at a different hospital, and my experience was not good. I had additional surgery with Dr. Barakat several months later, and my treatment was excellent. He operated on my mother 10 years ago - he was a wonderful, kind person then, and he still is now. I was terrified of more surgery, but my entire treatment, from pre-op to waking up post-surgery was wonderful. I was grateful to see his smiling face when I opened my eyes. The care at MSK is really wonderful too.

Dr Barakat is outstanding! Great bedside manner and spends time answering all questions.

Dr. Barakat and his staff seem to have lost their empathy and compassion for people struggling with a very traumatic disease- not only for the patient, but for the family as well. To me, part of being an amazing doctor is the comparison you extend to your patients who are suffering greatly. My mother has ovarian cancer, and it has been a very stressful and devastating year. I tried to call barakat several times to ask some questions- his staff was rude, said I was on a list. Called again and his secretary told me she would try to contact him via email and then added,"I can email him, but he probably won't get back to me either.." I literally couldn't get a call back, even after four calls to get a response. In the few times we did get an appointment, we waited hours, literally hours in the waiting room to see him- then he would take 2 mins with my mother, give quick answers, and seemed almost arrogant when we asked questions about treatment. I'm sad writing this- because we had such… high expectations of Sloan and barakat and it had been a disappointment to say the least. My mother changed doctors- we had no choice, we needed a more hands-on doctor- dr barakat, 90% of being a great doctor is the hope, compassion, and time you give your patients. Please remember that and get back to why you did this in the first place. These people are struggling for their lives.

Dr. Barakat specializes in gynecol. cancer operations. You ask me to rate Dr. Barakat's knowledge, but I can't because, except for one thing (see below near the end), I don't know. He never discussed my medical condition w/me after the operation except for once, months later, when I called to ask a specific question. He did explain that matter. Beforehand, it was perfunctory. He accepted the referring doctor's diagnosis. All times but 2, he blew me off--to his assistant. A very insulting move. No one should have to accept the dr.'s assistant being substituted for their doctor. You are the dr.'s patient, not the help's. A cyst, a potentially very serious problem, was created due to faulty sewing in the operation. W/out talking to me about test findings on it, as promised, he had his assistant send me to another dr., who said fixing the cyst is a very tricky operation. Draining the cyst could end me up in worse condition (and much more pain) than keeping the cyst. Re-doing the sewing, he… said, was Dr. B's job, and w/out discussing it w/me, Dr. B had apparently passed that up when he referred me to the other dr. He had had no discussion w/me about it. Online patient reports re this operation confirmed the great, great pain these people were in. So I kept the cyst . There is no ideal solution to this error that was made in the operation. I have had uncontrolled urinating and hormone-caused trouble w/the cyst since then. Re his knowledge: the dr. is not up to date with his knowledge about hormones. E.g., he advised me to have the ovaries taken out at the same time as the hysterectomy, because "you aren't getting any hormones from them anyway now (at my age) ." Months later, I came across Internet articles saying no one should have their ovaries taken out w/the hysterectomy unless they were diseased/cancerous. Doctors almost always do, and it's WRONG for the woman patient because, they said, there is still estrogen and progesterone being made in the ovaries and sent throughout the body. It's true that I had still been cycling w/monthly periods, although diminishing, while taking hormones just prior to the operation. There were also problems w/waiting--waiting for the operation the day of it, and waiting 1 - 3 1/2 hrs. for apptmts.

Now that my sister in law is dead, I feel that I can discuss my negative feelings about Dr. Baracat's care for her. The extremely long office visit waits were very disturbing to me and her, particularly when we arrived on time for her appointments! Not unusual to wait over an hour, possibly 2 hours at his office at Mercy hospital. Dr. Baracat performed surgery for her uterine cancer at Sloane Kettering Hospital on Manhattan. Her assigned surgery time was scheduled for late morning...we were informed that her surgery was completed at 9:00PM that evening. When she developed a sepsis very shortly after her operation. It was very difficult to get an appointment at Mercy Hospital to see Dr. Baracat concerning her life threatening condition, but she finally did manage, with the help of the nursing care attendant to get an appointment with him. Upon arrival for her sppointment I informed the receptionist of my sister in laws condition, and requested that she the doctor… immediately because of the severe drainage she had. Again, we had to wait over a hour to see the doctor...I repeatedly returned to the receptionist during the wait time expressing my concern, and that the doctor see her asap, but my requests were ignored. When we finally did get to see Dr. Baracat, he told her that she had to return to Sloane immediately because she had to be treated for sepsis! I hope that Dr. Baracat's patients have an easier time scheduling appoinments, and waiting time, if any, is very short. Also, hope that his staff has become more compassionate to patients with issues!

Dr. Barakat is one of the most gentle, kind people I have ever met. He truly cares about his patients!