Dr. Roger Norris Ruckman, MD

Dr. Ruckman took the time to come out to the Eastern shore of MD where my son was born, in order to evaluate his murmur. He was kind and caring and returned twice more, reassuring me that the PDA would either close on its own or require a simple cath. He asked if my son was normally that pale and we told him that he was fair-skinned but I should have known...My son wasn't fair-slinned, he was cyanotic and Dr. Ruckman misdiagnosed as a PDA what was really pulmonary atresia/VSD with MAPCA. If you don't want to look it up, that's complex heart disease, the kind newborns are rushed into surgery for. My son cried for five months because he didn't have enough oxygen and we were told he just had a PDA.He has DiGeorge Syndrome and has had three very difficult, very successful surgeries and about seven caths and is doing great.He is happy and generally healthy, a regular kid.I told Dr. Ruckman after his second echo of my son that we were thinking of getting another opinion just to be… careful. Dr. Ruckman respectfully recommended someone in Baltimore but said he would just confirm what Dr. Ruckman told us. If only. To his credit, Dr. Ruckman came to my son's room in the PICU after he was correctly diagnosed by his colleagues, and he said "I'm sorry." I think he is too, and manage to forgive him in my heart most of the times I think back on those events.But I have never spoken out about this and probably should have seven years ago. Now I am.

I would highly recommend Dr. Ruckman to anyone in search of a pediatric cardiologist. I have been seeing Dr. Ruckman since I was very young as I was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries. I will be 24 this year and I continue to see him. He's extremely knowledgeable and is able to answer any question that I have for him. He is very soft spoken and I literally trust him with my life. While CNMC can sometimes be a nightmare to deal with, Dr. Ruckman has never been. He always greets me with a smile and keeps me at ease. When they've needed to run additional tests, he keeps his tone even which allows me to not turn to panic mode. Also, as a female, I've never felt anything but comfortable with him.

Dr. Roger N. Ruckman is a wonderful pediatric cardiologist. We first met the doctor in 1988 when the discovery of a very large hole (an ASD) in our 6-month-old son's heart sent us to Children's Hospital in DC on an emergency basis on the same day. Dr. Ruckman is a very intelligent, soft-spoken specialist, who care a great deal about his patients. He followed our son's case from intake, to his scheduled open heart surgery roughly 2 years later, through his 20 yrs of follow-up visits. Dr. Ruckman has always provided top-notch medical care that has seen our son through a variety of rigorous sports activities (i.e., martial arts, nationally ranked elite swimming, SCUBA diving, and physical career demands). He also has provided first-rate consulting on reactive airway issues that my son experienced years ago. Dr. Ruckman has particular interest in his patients because his daughter was also a cardiac patient. Because Dr. Ruckman (who at one time was acting chief of pediatric cardiologist at… Children's) is in such great demand, there is understandably a delay in being seen; however, if the child in question has a true emergency need (as verified by his or her primary care physician), the child can be seen on an emergency basis--as was my son. I have absolutely no hesitancy in recommending Dr. Ruckman for top quality pediatric cardiological care. His is a very kind and gentle man, who provides excellent care and has always been there for us!

After his office staff screwed up the appt, Dr. Ruckman would not see us the same day because he was already booked. We waited a month to see him in the first place because our 18m onth old son had an abnormal EKG. He told us that we would need to call the scheduling department at the hosptial to get the next available appt which was another month out. His lack of caring to our concerns about our son and whether his possible condition could be put out another month was of no concern to him. He seemed to be only concerned that he not have to see another patient on this particular day. He was not at all sympathatic to the fact that we were not going to get seen because his staff scheduled us on the wrong day. I have also heard from another family that took there newborn to him that he had no bedside manner and was rude. Not the kind of DR that I want in pediatrics. If you cannot deal with nervous parents and upset children then pediatrics is not the place for you.....