Marlene Rocha Farooq, MD

En primer lugar quiero decir q fue mi primera vez con la doctora confieso no estaba segura de entrar por q hice la cita x internet no le tengo mucha confianza pero la verdad. La doctora y todo el personal. Muy amable y educado siempre fueron corteses y la doctora muy amable y me explico mis preguntas. Una a una me sentí muy cómoda. Gracias q Dios les bendiga.

She’s the sweetest lady once you’re in the office. But it’s impossible to get ahold of her over the phone. When you leave voicemails, never expect a return call. They don’t schedule appointments until 11am and she still shows up late. I’m not trying to be mean, this is honestly what I’ve experienced.

I made two appointments with this doctor, and never ended up seeing her.
The first she called a few hours before my appointment to cancel.
The second, infuriated me, I arrived 15 minutes early like I usually do for all doctors appointments, waited 45 minutes and then the receptionist told me that SHE WASNT EVEN THERE! She was running late because she was at TARGET! are you kidding? She asked if I could wait 15 more minutes, and no.
I never went back and never will.

Dr. Marlene Rocha Farooq is a wonderful, kind, and very knowledgable doctor. She has been my doctor for 5 years now. I see that she has negative reviews mostly for disapointment in staff and rx refill, both of which I comment on below:
1. She recently hired a new receptionist who is awesome and sweet and kind. Her family practice is small and I like this because everyone there knows you and it feels very friendly.
2. It is simply ridiculous to give a doctor a bad review because she is doing her job correctly. Requiring your patient to come see you for a visit in order to give them a rx or rx refill is essential for safe prescribing. When doctors do not do this, it delays full medical assessments, bypasses opportunities to provide preventive care and jeopardizes patient safety. In some cases, doctors are required by federal law to see the patient before a refill, but even when it is not required by law, doctors assigning batches of prescriptions over the phone discounts the doctor-​patient relationship and trivializes the medical profession. And something else important to note is that doctors offices are also businesses (as much as some people do not like this concept) and if your doctor were to never see you and refill all your rx for free over the phone, they would suddenly not be in business. Unfortunately, this is the way our healthcare system works and it is disappointing to see the anger in the comments below is directed at this doctor rather than the system as she is excellent.

I just recently changed my doctor from a clinic to this family medicine doctor. At the clinic where I used to go I had to wait 30 minutes to be called in and was left in the exam room for 1 hour and 30 minutes! I thought the staff had forgot about me. I wasn’t so happy and I didn’t return. After a year and a half I decided that I needed to see a doctor so I looked for a new one. I chose Dr Farooq despite reviews and made my choice. I came in today and filled out new patient forms and Nina the receptionist was kind and sweet. I waited for about 7 minutes then was taken into a room. Dr Farooq saw me within minutes and went over my health history and did my routine physical. Dr Farooq works at a fast pace and personally I like that. I was out in about 25 minutes and I liked her. I will be returning with Dr Marlene to continue care.

Here is the letter I sent her today after her rude staff refused to give her a message regarding renewing a prescription for a recurring problem Ive seen her for a few times for a simple ear infection. I tried to explain I am sitting shiva and cant come to the office and the staff refused to relay the message insisting I come in so she get that co-​pay:
Today I called your office and had the most disgraceful conversation with your rude staff who refused to take a message for you regarding my health. As you know I have a recurring problem with ear infections and you have prescribed the same medication consistently. I tried to explain that I am sitting shiva and cannot leave the house and simply asked if she would relay a message to you about calling in a prescription. Which she very rudely and coldly refused to do. I have until this moment been impressed with you and your staff and was going to make you my family doctor but due to the insensitivity your office displayed while I am in mourning I will be taking my business elsewhere and leaving negative feedback online. You might want to educate your staff a little about tact and courtesy. And you might want to consider being a little accommodating in the face of a crisis.

I wish I read the reviews prior to seeing the doctor… Like all the other reviews, the doctor is only concerned with making money. I was billed over $ 200 for a 5 min visit. She WILL charge you for random services and see you for only 5 mins.
If you’re curious, I came in for my annual physical and bc I had a very slight cold, she said I’d have to come back another day and bill me for my visit (uh, wtf!)
Avoid her and her incompetent staff at all costs!

Dr Farooq is just looking for money, she will only refill perscriptions every 3 months. She makes sure that you come in to collect more money for a co pay. Just more money going into her pocket. I’ve only been with her 6 months and both times I have gone have been a terrible experience.
I received a bill the first time I went for a copay that I already paid. I’ve been receiving the same medicines for years and still she has made me come in every 3 months to refill the same medicine. I’m done with her, avoid Dr. Farooq at all costs!

I wish I had read these reviews before I ever went to Dr. Farooq. After only a few visits I can absolutely relate to each and every review here. My experience, and that of other patients I have talked to, are completely the same. The office staff is beyond unprofessional and Dr. Farooq is more concerned with making money off her patients than the patients themselves. She absolutely will not speak to her patients or give them test results without making an appointment so she can collect a co-​pay and bill the insurance. The scam is not only transparent, but potentially dangerous to patients. Beware if you make a preventative appointment and even ask about a test result, six months later you’ll get a bill for a co-​pay you should not owe!!! Please do yourself a favor and find another doctor.

I have been going to Dr Farooq for quite a few years now and I have just procrastinated my search for a new doctor. Well no more! She is LONG overdue for a bad review. This dr is more interested in making her money than her patient… she’s not a dr she’s a pill pimp! On a few occasions I had appts around 10am and I waited over 40 min for her to arrive at the office! No explanation or apology was given. DO NOT GO TO THIS DOCTOR. once I even went when I had no insurance at the time and she tried to charge me for 2 visits because I was 1) sick w/​fever and 2) needed a Rx refill. Ridiculous and clearly callous and greedy.

This review is more for the office staff than for Dr. Farooq herself, who I think does an good job (although I sometimes have felt hurried through appointments).
To start, her female receptionist is so hard to understand (her English is muddled) that I constantly have to ask her to repeat herself just to make sure I have my appointment time correct. On one occasion, the double-​booked my appointment time, and instead of calling to change mine (or the other person’s) they just let us both show up, and I waited an hour in their tiny, cramped waiting room. If I didn’t absolutely need a new BC prescription, I would’ve walked out and never come back.
Also, don’t bother calling with any questions after your appointment. I had a quick question about the BC she prescribed me, and I called once per day, three days in a row, and still got no answer from the doctor. The hard-​to-​understand receptionist would just give me the standard response of «I’ll take a message and have her call you back» which she never did. Thankfully my pharmacy was far more responsive and helpful (thank you Medco!).
There are plenty of good doctors in LA, with excellent office staff (Dr. David Shen in Naples, for example), so I would recommend seeing them and staying away from this office full of incompetent staff.

Firstly, I’m not one to write reviews unless I had an amazing experience, or a TERRIBLE experience. This falls into the TERRIBLE category, I had a 102 fever and the office staff made me wait an HOUR to see her (despite the fact I was the only one there). Office assistant could not figure out my insurance, for some reason (I have Blue Cross, which is pretty standard). Once I finally saw the doctor, she saw me for ten minutes, gave me a bunch of meds and told me I had a Kidney infection. Well, I haven’t gotten better and it’s been over a week. So, I have made an appointment with an Urologist (who specializes in stuff like Kidneys). He asked Farooq’s staff to fax over what she had found when I went to see her. They refuse to, and will not give me or him a reason why. Also, they have not done any follow-​up with me. Now, just in case you don’t know, a Kidney infection is pretty damn serious and can lead to some serious health issues. So, I would not recommend this doctor, The staff is rude and unhelpful, and the doctor seams to care more about making a profit than her patients.