David T Duong, MD PhD

I agree totally agree with some of the low star ratings here. Here is what my experience was:
— the lady on the phone was very unhelpful. I kept feeling like she is doing me a favor by talking to me answering questions. Then they never sent me intake papers. They were pretty quick when I came to the office (that’s about the only thing I liked about my visit to these guys)
— the doctor. I really hated being in the same room with this guy. I felt like I was talking to a robot. Very unpleasant.

I’m surprised to read the negative reviews. I came to Dr. Duong on referral. HIs office staff is professional and responsive and I was always seen on time, or reasonably close to on time. I’m not a veteran of doctor visits but I found Dr. Duong to be a good listener and willing to spend the necessary amount of time to discuss diagnosis and treatment. I am pleased with his care.

Dr. Duong is great. Efficient, thoughtful, knowledgable. Solved my problem in just a few easy appointments.

Dr. Duong is perfect in my book. He is well-​mannered, interested, and really cares about his patients. He has given me a plan for my re-​occuring UTI’s and they haven’t come back since. I now go back for check ups time to time and he is able to answer all my questions and I’m satisfied every visit. His office staff are also very polite and accomodating. It’s never a dragged out process to go in for a visit. I highly recommend him.

My visit was unequivocally the worst medical appointment I have ever experienced in my life. I was there to get the results of my recent CT scan for a supposed kidney stone. After waiting in the exam room, seated next to the exam table, Duong walked in, dropped the results on the exam table and said, «Do you have any questions?»
He did not introduce himself. He did not shake my hand. He did not look me in the eye for the entire appointment. Not once. Instead, he sat across from me and fiddled with his pants cuff the whole time.
A CT scan has a lot information written in ‘doctor-​ease’, so I asked him for a few minutes to review it. Without going into the the lengthy details, three times I asked him questions to which his answer was «How should I know?» His attitude throughout exhibited a similar temperament. He was arrogant, insulting, condescending, inattentive, patronizing, and disdainful.
At one point I showed him the «Flo-​Max» my internist had prescribed and asked him if I should continue to take it. He snapped, «Why are you taking this?» Getting a little more than irked myself, I responded, «Because my doctor told me to.» He snarkily asked (I am female), «Do you know you don’t have a prostate?» He then barked, «Your doctor has no business prescribing this medication.» I explained to him that, yes, I know I don’t have a prostate, but that my doctor told me that this is also prescribed also for women having problems urinating. (It is, and it worked).
The CT scan showed some internal areas outside of those urological so I asked him about these. For those areas (my lung showed something, for example), he said, «I don’t practice pulmonology and they don’t practice urology, so how should I know?»
I asked him, «Why are you being so hostile to me?» He replied, «I’m just answering your questions.» I said, «Good, because I have some more.»
I told him I had difficulties needing to urinate several times during the night. He asked, «Do you drink anything before you go to bed» I told him «About 3 – 6 oz.; just enough to swallow my nighttime medication.» His response: «Don’t do it.» Huh??? I figured, if I do have a problem, I certainly don’t want to work with him, so I just said, «Well, I guess I’ll wait and see,» and I walked out. You can be certain I will never walk in again.
Two days later I had an appointment with my internist. I related the appointment in detail (more than I have here) and my internist, after finding some UROLOGICAL issues on the scan results not mentioned by Duong, immediately removed Duong from his referral list.

My experience with Dr. Duong has been phenomenal.
After other doctors said it would be 5 weeks to make an appointment, he fit me into his schedule that same day. He was very knowledgable of my situation, answered all of my questions and explained the next steps we needed to take which included surgery as soon as possible. He and his team set up all the pre-​surgery appointments for me so I could have my operation two days later. I feel fortunate to have worked with a doctor that took my health as seriously as I do. I would recommend him to anyone I know.
The follow up with him has been great as well. He is direct but upbeat and positive when discussing the treatments needed. He and his team are responsive and helpful. and he has recommended great doctors for my follow up care.

This is a doctor who really «gets it.» A pleasure to deal with and his office staff are equally helpful and professional !
I don’t understand why he gets any negative reviews, as I have found him to be about the most helpful, understanding and capable doctor I’ve seen. Also, he returned my phone calls within 10 minutes! I can’t think of a more responsive physician.

I reached Duong when my own physician was away and he was on call. He was not helpful.

Warning. Any positive reviews here about Dr. Duong are probably fake. This doctor is a disgrace to the profession.
This doctor completely botched a procedure he performed on me to remove a kidney stone, destroyed my ureter, kept me in renal failure for 6 days, and never admitted that he had done anything wrong. I finally was rescued by the doctors at UCSF medical center. They performed an emergency nefrostomy and finally had to preform an auto-​transplant of my solo kidney months later, as they couldn’t repair the damage he had done. I was hospitalized many times in the interim due to infections.
Dr. Duong should not be practicing. He does not care about his patients. His knowledge is lacking. He DOES HARM. I will never be the same because of him. He resisted my leaving his care to get treated by UCSF when I was dying, and never sought to find out if I had survived.
Now you know, Dr. Duong. I have survived. Please return to playing the violin, and give up doctoring for the sake of mankind!
I wish there had been honest reviews on Unilocal about this doctor before I hired him. I hope this helps others looking for a urologist. The doctors at UCSF Urology were fantastic (especially Dr. Stoller and his team). Thanks to them!
I can supply medical records on request to document my claims. I doubt any of the positive reviewers could do the same, or perhaps they were just plain lucky. I certainly wasn’t.

Dr. Duong is the consummate professional — extremely intellectual, thoughtful, responsive, and caring. Given the nature of his field — urology — these are often «more serious» problems vs the occassional doctor visit, and his demeanor and attitude reflect the high stress and demands of his field (some reviewers may interpret this as «rudeness», but this directness and bluntness is exactly how I want my surgeon to be when lives or serious injuries are on the line). He is extremely confident, a work-​a-​holic and goes through great lengths to make sure his patients are well taken care of.
Dr. Duong’s office visits mostly start with a conversation by his large desk, where there is an interactive process of the symptoms and difficulties that one might be facing, and so he can establish a framework for how to treat your issues. He then politely requests that you meet him in the examination room, so he can take a hands on look.
I had to take an unexpected visit to Dr. Duong during the holiday season, and he was able to slot me in despite being completely booked due to my symptoms. To readers — sometimes it may be difficult to book an appointment here, but if there is anything that needs to be urgently treated, inform the receptionist, and they will come back to you quickly.
After taking a detailed look, he told me I was to be pulled in for surgery that night (may I add that he already had 2 existing add-​on patients that evening, and this was one week before Christmas — only a doctor that truly cared about his patients well being would add yet another patient to an already packed night). The experienced office-​mates stream-​lined my admittance in the local hospital, and literally 4 – 5 hours later, I was ready for my operation.
While I was scared about the operation, I was not scared about Dr. Duong’s experience, and ability. A quick google search revealed an extremely pedigreed background at top universities, and a Stanford residency (one of the best medical schools in the world). I believe that Dr. Duong is very well respected in his particular field (believe he also wrote a few papers on «minimally invasive surgeries» — important considering the nature of his work). In addition, my interactions with him suggested that he knew exactly what he was doing, and he was able to describe the process in great detail. Dr. Duong is very confident, does not sugar-​coat his diagnostics, and adequately describes key risks.
The success of my operation was consistent with the expectation above (although I have never had a similar surgery [and hopefully never will!], so the comparison is tough), but the wound was just about as «minimally invasive» as one could imagine.
During the recovery process, Dr. Duong was very caring in following up with any questions I had. I reached out to his office two times in the week following my operation, and both were promptly responded (he personally called me on my cell phone at 8:30 PM, clearly after office hours and after an operation, and took as much time as needed to advise me as to next steps, and whether or not things were healing correctly)
I am so grateful that the city of San Francisco has such gifted, wonder and professional doctors, and Dr. Duong is right there with the best of them.
Should anyone have any specific questions, please feel free to send me a message.

The first appointment felt a bit rushed; I had a number of different issues and Dr Duong seemed harried. The second appointment was longer and went much more comfortably (except for the cystoscopy, which was not at all fun), and he seemed much more cheerful. I got all my questions answered and got medical information that seemed thorough and was consistent with how I feel.

Dr. Duong would get 10 stars if 10 were offered. I have been worried for 6 months about my «abnormal cells». My primary doctor had me repeat a couple of tests before he referred me to Dr. Duong. I immediately told him of my worries and the good doctor tried his best to assure me that most likely everything would turn out fine. The last test was a cystoscopy which had me almost paralyzed wtih fear and Dr. Duong promised me that if I could survive getting a shot I would have no problem with a cystoscopy. As it turned out I survived the test which was not that bad at all. He took his time and took me thru each step explaining everything as he went. He treated me respectfully and did not minimize my fears. Hopefully I will never have to treurn to Dr. Duong but if I ever need a uruologist, he’s my man.

This is only my second review on Unilocal,but it seems necessary to write. Dr. Duong seems very knowledgeable, but I was surprised at the rudeness upon my entering his practice. From the first moments of our meeting, I found his responses and interaction in general to be nothing but rude. I almost left our meeting mid-​way through due to the amount of attitude I was receiving. I was coming to see him for a second opinion and he seemed offended that I would have questioned the original Dr. I feel like I was given adequate advice, but I will not return to see this guy.

I wasn’t planning on writing a review for this guy, but I just received a bill for the one appointment I had with him, which took place over a year ago and was paid for months ago, so I guess that was kind of the last straw. When I went to see Dr. Duong, he brushed off my reasons for making the appointment within five minutes (recurring pain on my left epididymis), which seemed not only rude but somewhat irresponsible considering that I had already lost one testicle to cancer in 2009.
This is rude, but yknow, fine, if you’re a good doctor, be rude, I don’t care. The reason I’m writing this, is that he looked up my charts, and casually told me I had hepatitis. 3 kinds of hepatitis. This was news to me, and I reacted in what I consider a pretty reasonable way, I was extremely panicked and wanted to know why I was just now hearing about this. Everytime I brought it up, he brushed it off and basically said «look, this is between you and your doctor, DUNNO», and tried to get the appointment finished with as quickly as he could. Since he’s located in the same building as my regular doctor, I rushed to the office in a panic. I explained to the receptionist, and she asked if she could see the chart. The chart said that I tested positive for the antibodies, and that I don’t have hepatitis. This woman figured this out in about 15 seconds, which Dr. Duong apparently didn’t have to spare.
I’m sure this was a clerical error or something and not an outright scam but yknow, I wasn’t thrilled to pay this bill the first time, but I was doing alright moneywise at the time and I just wanted to put the experience behind me, sometimes you have a bad doctor’s visit. The fact that after a year, I just randomly get a bill from these people was the last straw, draw your own conclusions I guess. Fuck you, Dr. Duong.

I saw Duong years ago on the off chance an on going medical condition was related to the urological track.
5 minutes in his office, no physical examination and no tests ordered I was cleared of any problem related to his field.
3 years later and after going to another urologist, I was diagnosed with a urological problem that had cause me severe pain for all those years.
Thanks for your thoroughness Duong, your inaction for the 5 minutes that I saw you resulted in years of endless searching and pain for me.
If you want a rockstar urologist, go to Stuart M. Rosenberg, MD in San Francisco,

My mid 30’s husband had to see Dr Duong a couple of times in the past month for some tests and each time he returned home he told me what a great guy Dr Duong was. He liked the fact that he made him feel completely at ease and relaxed & his general demeanour was likeable. The Dr was very thorough in his explanation & advice and my husband was relieved when all the tests came back clear… he would happily recommend Dr Duong and we’re glad our research through Unilocal paid off. Don’t be deterred by the front office staff — some were much friendlier than others…

Dr. Duong is the specialist that I highly recommend. When you need the very best, Dr. Duong is warm, has great bed side manners, clear when you talk to him, returns calls right away, always on time, young but easy to trust and have full faith in. He is the very best. I sure got lucky when I was referred to Dr. Duong. It made my condition and treatment much easier to cope with.

I went to see Dr. David Duong for a cystoscopy procedure today. I did some research online prior to the appointment and found many horrible stories. I was very scared and nervous. However, Dr. Duong promised me that it would not be as bad as I thought it would be, and he was right! The whole procedure lasted about 5 minutes, and during the procedure, Dr. Duong carefully explained to me step-​by-​step what he was checking. After the procedure, we went back to his office for in-​depth analysis and consultation. I was very impressed with his knowledge and with the way that he answered all of my questions. I’ve been to another Urologist who was far less concerned with my well-​being and understanding of what was happening to me. I’m greatly appreciative of Dr. Duong for treating me like family instead of just another patient. I would definitely recommend him to everybody!
PS: His assistant is also very nice in helping me scheduling the appointments

It is my sincere hope that you will never need a urologist, but if you do, you MUST go to Dr. Duong. Not SHOULD, MUST.
Upon a referral from Dr. David Cohen (also excellent), I visited Dr. D about 6 months ago with some rather unpleasant pain. I had previously consulted a few docs about the problem, and no one could give me any guidance. Dr. Duong, however, pretty quickly identified the problem. He explained the issue very clearly; intelligently and thoroughly answered all of my questions (I’m a lawyer, so I had tons — we always do); and helped me finally understand an almost 4 year old problem.
Surgery was required to fix me up, and Dr. Duong pretty much held my hand every step of the way. I was nervous about the procedure, but that nervousness was cabined solely to the type of procedure and not about Dr. Duong’s competence. Indeed, I felt completely confident in him. The day of the procedure, he sat with my wife and I to address any last-​minute questions and concerns. By the time it was zero-​hour, we were totally comfortable with him and with the operation.
The operation went off without a hitch, and the recovery period was exactly as Dr. Duong said it would be. I did have a few questions after the procedure, and whenever I called his office to consult with him, he PERSONALLY called me back within AT MOST one business day. He stayed on the line as long as I needed him to, and was completely responsive to all of my concerns.
Beyond his unquestionable medical and surgical competence, Dr. Duong is just a hell of a nice guy. I thoroughly enjoyed — and in fact came to look forward to — our appointments, during which I felt like I got to know a little bit about Dr. Duong the man, in addition to Dr. Duong the doctor. I can’t say that that’s ever happened with another doctor, and it goes a long way towards helping me truly trust someone who was going to cut me open.
Though I was and remain more than satisfied with Dr. D’s service and performance, I waited so long to post this review to make sure that no post-​op issues arose, and to ensure that the problem was actually fixed. I have had no issues, the incision scar is almost entirely gone, and I’M FINALLY PAIN-​FREE.
Thank you, Dr. Duoug!