When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, it was a stage 1A. Very small and low risk. After my double mastectomy with reconstruction my lymphnodes came back clear with no cancer, as well as my cancer margins. Just to be safe I wanted to see a Oncologist to help me with the post surgical survailance and treatment. I went into the appointment feeling great and conifident after my surgery. The oncologist came in very bad news. He wanted me to start several types of chemo infusion with endocrine therapy, immediately. I was shocked. I didn't think I still had cancer. "I did not tell him my case was reviewed by the Tumor Board for post operative recommendations. (The tumor board has MANY doctors, surgeons and oncologists that recommended no chemo but should think about starting with endocrine therapy.)" After hearing his speech, I thought I was going to die and I definatley felt like it. I felt worse actually; I felt like I needed to die before the raging cancer came back and took my life slowly...painfully......unless I acted now. I had just had my chest litterally removed a couple months ago and now this Dr. is telling me I need to get started immediatlely, or else. He said I was going to loose all my hair, I might have to quit my job and I will probably face many challenges daily for the next few years I'm still not mentally okay. I've seen another Oncologist from NWMS for a second opnion. This was incredibly hard to schedule. They DID NOT want me to get rescheled with a different Oncologist and had to get permission from the first Oncologist to do it. I had a wait a few months and have SEVERAL calls just to book an appointment. I thought I had to the right to have a second opinion. I didn't know it would be so hard to make it happen. New Oncologist with NWMS said chemo is not recommended at all. Just Endocrine therapy. However when I mentioned getting my fallopian tubes removed to lower my rist of cervical cancer he huffed, and said (I have never heard that before, just go get the HPV vaccine.) Its like anything that came out of my mouth was disregarded and downplayed. Apparently being a female is a problem. I felt like I was just another body on a convayer belt rolling through the preprogrammed routine and not all cervical cancer is from HPV. I couldn't trust him after that. Just because he didn't hear about it, does mean it doesn't exist. I wasn't going to argue. I just wanted away from this entire network at this point. I just received a notice that my personal data was stolen from NWMS. They sent me a code with a shady credit montioring serivce for a year to make for up it. I was upset this happened and I don't trust them. I looked up the credit monitoring service on trustpilot and it had a horrible score. I did not take them up on it, I just pay monthly for my own data protection. I want nothing more to do with this place. Not only was I going to get a ton of treatment that was not needed but they lost my personal information as well. read more

I've been going to this location and their Tacoma location for about 14 to 15 months. The receptionist/scheduler they had in the middle of 2023 was definitely not my favorite. But toward the end of the year they put two different ladies up front and my opinion totally changed. Suzi was the main one checking patients in and she's amazingly nice to people...especially considering the reason people are there predisposes them to not being the happiest and friendliest all the time. I'm embarrassed I don't know her name, but the main woman who draws labs is by far the best, most skilled, and gentlest at her job I've ever experienced, and I've had LOTS of people draw (or try to) my blood. I see Dr. Chaves primarily. Yes... he is almost always running behind. But it's because he's extremely thorough in his explanations and never rushes to try to get back on schedule. He answers all your questions in a straight forward way that you can understand, and also listens to your thoughts/input on how you see your treatment. With how much time he gives his patients, I imagine he's never home on time. No place is perfect or will please everyone... especially a doctors office treating such serious diseases. But in my opinion they do a great a job and I'm thankful that they're the ones providing the bulk of my care. read more

I want to say I am posting this review because since my diagnosis I have been treated like Im not more then just my cancer. I was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer in January of 2024. The reason it was found was because I had been in debilitating back pain for four months and was mis diagnosed several times by the Neurology department of St. Josephs in Tacoma. I was in so much pain that for radiation I had to be wheel chaired because when I walked I would sob. I was placed with Doctor Li Zhang. I was told by her I had two compression fractures due to lesions eating at my spine and that I would be in chronic pain for the rest of my life. She wanted to address my pain so we tried a few different pain medications including morphine. The one that helped the most was Tramadol. It took away my pain but more importantly allowed me to function throughout the day as I have two young kids. Dr. Zhang made it pretty clear that she did not like prescribing it and that in her opinion I shouldn't need it at some point. Because of her opinion on prescribing it I used it extremely sparingly. I've seen several different Neurologists, and a Radiologist and I've never gotten a clear answer on if these fractures will 100% heal. About two weeks ago I had a tele health appointment with one of Dr. Zhangs colleagues. In that appointment I was asked if I needed any refills on prescriptions and I said yes and one of those was Tramadol. The last time I was prescribed in was December or January and it was less then 10 pills. It had been two weeks and my pharmacy hadn't received anything so I went into the patient portal and asked for an update. The message I received back from clinical staff was "per Dr. Zhang she is declining the refill on Tramadol". The doctor who told me I would be in chronic pain for the rest of my life and who only prescribed me less the ten pills at least 6 months ago was denying me my request. I sat on that message for two days and the more I thought about it the more upsetting it was. My pain fluctuates and sometimes is a 1 or a 2 but if I work out or I am more active during the day then the my pain increases to a 4 or 5 which I have always communicated. Usually I can get home and ice it but sometimes that is not enough. It wasn't even that she said no, it was the way in which it was communicated or not communicated I should say. I've been a patient for over a year and there was no phone call or follow up on what other options there were. I was tossed to the side and dismissed because SHE thinks I don't need it. This doctor isn't the one walking around with multiple fractures in her spine. I reached out to administration and voiced my concerns and that I felt at the very least I was owed better communication. A very nice triage nurse called me and said she was going to try and push it through again but wasn't sure if Dr. Zhang would approve it. Sure enough she didn't. She told the triage nurse that unless there is disease progression she would not prescribe it. Never mind quality of life. I was given the option of switching providers and can still do that but I have some very real concerns. I understand that Oncologists have a job to do and they have a lot of patients but if they have so many patients that this is the way they are treating them then maybe they need to lighten their load. I understand people have addiction issues but I am not one of them and if there was concerns that I was it wasn't communicated at all. I want to finally add I am a woman of color. Black women often experience significant disparities in pain management compared to white women and other racial groups. Just know anyone who is going through this you are not alone and you are more then just your cancer and you deserve to be treated like you matter and taken seriously. read more

For the sake of either yourself or a loved one, please don't use NW Medical Specialties. You will have nothing but frustration, starting right off the bat. Other cancer related centers and doctors in the Gig Harbor area are fully aware that it's ridiculously hard to get a hold of these people but they keep pushing patients here. If you are newly diagnosed, do yourself an enormous life-saving favor and schedule with an established cancer center that is world renowned and has doctors who each have a specialty. They can coordinate with people down here for your treatment. You will save yourself the agony of dealing with the rude support staff and could very well be saving your life. This place should be investigated and shut down. The new patient coordinators either don't care, are incompetent, and clearly have no regard for the fact they are putting people's lives at risk with their behavior. Once you are diagnosed with cancer, the clock is ticking. Timely treatment is imperative but these Tonya Harding tough girls who are supposed to get you scheduled act like they could care less. Referals are conveniently lost, you are told they never recieved them, or that they are sitting on the doctors desk. There is no well working medical system in the world where the doctor would do the scheduling. You will be constantly put off and lied to, all because someone somewhere in their system is failing to do their job. And because of this, people will die. But then, who's really at fault? Is it the owners? There are plenty of claims online that the owners are greedy, the employees get no breaks, they are underpaid and therefore unmotivated. The local community deserves a cancer center who genuinely cares about the wellbeing of their patients. 10 years ago, I naively thought no one I loved would ever be affected. Within two years, both my partner and I were diagnosed with the some of the most aggressive forms of cancer. He was smart enough to get treatment up north. I chose the convenience of Northwest Medical Centers and have been sorry ever since. It wasn't the pain the treatments, but the panic attacks and crying jags of knowing my care was deferred, setting me up for a reoccurance because of someone else's incompetence. Some of the doctors here are in only one day a week, meaning if there is trouble with your treatment, you might not here for weeks, and with something as aggressive as cancer, this is putting your life in danger. read more