Dr. Christian Burnette Kaufman, MD

We came to Dr. Christian Kaufman after an MRI showed an unusual finding that had everyone else speaking in vague, scary terms. By the time we got to his office, we were convinced our child might need brain surgery. Instead of rushing through the visit, Dr. Kaufman sat down, listened carefully to the whole story, and made us feel heard in a way very few doctors ever have. He pulled up the MRI images himself and walked us through them slice by slice, explaining that the finding was a developmental venous anomaly and why it did not require surgery. He took something complex and made it make sense. He answered every question, showed us exactly what he meant on the scans, explained what symptoms would matter going forward, and gave us reassurance that was both thoughtful and specific. After weeks of fear and confusion, we left with clarity, relief, and enormous gratitude.

Our daughter needed complex epilepsy surgery. We were understandably very nervous to even think about brain surgery for our child. Dr. Kaufman was so wonderful, and patient, and such a thorough communicator, even from the first meeting. And not just him, but the whole neurosurgery team at Children's Mercy. We felt we could completely trust him and his team to care for our daughter. The whole scary experience ended up being not so scary, very well informed, and our daughter has had a wonderful outcome! She has been seizure free for the first time in her life! The result has been more than we ever dared hope for. We are so grateful for the team at Children's Mercy.

Dr Kaufman, I don’t even know what to say. Our family owes you everything for saving Izzy’s life. I know she has a long way to go, but God sent you to her, and you did the impossible! I’m amazed by your work, and extremely grateful for your hard work!!

My daughter had a VERY serious surgery performed by Dr. Kaufman. He spent 1.5 hours with us during the first visit, answering any questions we had and explaining the diagnosis. During her surgery, we were called with updates and following the surgery the doctor met with us in a private room to discuss how things went. Our daughter has had a FULL recovery and we're so grateful to Dr. Kaufman and his staff!!