Obstetrics on increase in otario, complaints of patients with gynecology, patients are called Lokpal

New data suggests that more people are lodging complaints about maternity and gynecological care in Ontario, which lacks insensitivity, poor communication, and lack of trauma awareness among the most common complaints.

Ontario’s patient Lokpal Craig Thompson says his office received 168 complaints between April 2024 and March 2025, compared to 130 in the same period of the previous year – 29 percent increase.

The complainants also experienced lack of responsible care for factors such as sexual harassment, pregnancy complications, abortion and difficult births.

He said that many complaints were related to pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care provided in hospitals. Community surgical and clinical centers have also increased complaints about services that perform ultrasound, X-rays and surgical processes.

Complaints are filed by online, email, fax or mail, and then reviewed by Ombdsman, which are attached to the two sides to reach a resolution.

National data of Canadian Medical Protective Association suggests that the patient’s complaints in medical subjects are increasing, more than 4,045 in 2020, more than 3,379 in 2016. He said that several complaints revealed that communication was an inherent issue.

The data of Ontario Lokpal will be published in an annual report on the overall number and subjects of health system complaints later this year, but Thompson shared the OB-GYN number with Canadian press in view of an investigation published last week, including many patients, which included negative care for almost a decade for a decade for a decade.

Patients described painful experiences under OB-Gyne’s care Dr. Ester parkWith some allegations, he was not sufficiently informed about his clinic and some procedures done in the hospital, which he worked for 25 years.

Dr. Park stopped practicing medicine in AprilEfforts to reach him for comment failed.

In the final annual report of the Lokpal released in March, the number of maternity and gynecological complaints in the province was described as “emerging concern”, stating Thompson said he would continue to monitor.

No confirmation of comprehensive investigation of OB-GYN complaints

While Thompson said that the way women are given health in Ontario, it is an issue for many years, he said that what is new is the number of complaints about maternity and gynecology and complaints of complaints.

He said, “We are in the role of a bit of canary in the coal mine. We identify the initial signs of a problem,” he said, stating that the annual reports are shared with ministries of the province’s health, long -term care and relevant health agencies.

The role of the patient Lokpal was created by the Provincial Government in 2016 to resolve complaints and help in investigating on public interest issues.

Thompson calls his office “final resort” for patients who are not satisfied with the hospital’s response to a complaint, and need to help reach a resolution. But he also tries to explain whether there is a need to investigate a comprehensive issue and what can be done.

Thompson said he tries to determine: “Where is a breakdown? Is this a breakdown in the policy? Is it a breakdown of our team’s education or training? Is it a break in behavior? What is the practice we have not taken?”

He will not disclose if he is conducting extensive investigation into complaints of maternity and gynecological care. His previous report included two pages on the practice, “Identifying broader organizational issues, including lack of trauma-informed care approaches, if addressed, may improve the experiences of patients and their families.”

Doctor in integrating traumatic approach in hospitals

Dr. Heather Miller, a maternity and gynecologist at the Women’s College Hospital, and at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto begins with a shock-infused approach about how common painful childhood memories, sexual attacks and awareness about triggering medical encounters begins. It also includes strategies to avoid trauma or to avoid retrieving a patient.

She said that she first came into law in 2015.

Miller said, “I was working with a physician at that time who used the shock-infused care principles and I realized that it was something that we all should do and it should be really applied to our feature,” Miller said.

The base is to treat each patient such as they have a trauma history, for example, to seek permission before touching them and to convenient an environment to cover their body during an examination that feels safe.

Since then, Miller has been helping Mount Sinai’s obstetric emergency training to integrate the approach to hospitals, and he teaches traumatized care to the residents at the University of Toronto.

She is also working on National Guidelines with Canada’s maternity and gynecologist’s society to formally apply this approach as a standard of care.

“We are now very conscious of how common trauma is common in the general population … and also how the encounters and procedures in our specialty can be painful for the people,” he said, referring to the vaginal examinations that can make aggressive feeling, and the emergency during delivery, which can trigger painful memories.

Shock-informed care was not talked about

Dr. Vice President of Education for Obstetric Department and Gynecology Department at Ottawa University. Glenn Posner said that when he was a resident over 20 years ago, there was no talk of trauma-informed care. But now, he sees that the residents bring this sensitive approach to their patients, for example asking permission several times before an examination, or showing how a speculum on their feet feel before using it.

He said that patients’ jobs and utter amounts of stressful demands can sometimes obstruct sensitive communication, and translate into the language of the body, who will pick up the patients, they said.

“Talking with someone with your hand on the door knob is believed to be running them. But you can spend at the same time or spend less time, if you come in, pull a chair, sit.”

Similarly, Miller said that there are small changes that can make patients feel more under control, such as raising the head of the hospital bed so that the doctor can make an eye-contact with them in an examination.

Health Ministry responds to complaints

In response to an email from the Canadian press with the new data of Ombdsman, the Ministry of Health said that it expects that every hospital and health care partner maintain the highest standard of patient care to the partner. He mentioned the existing patient safety law and regulation, but did not say what they would do about an increase in obstetric and gynecological complaints.

A spokesman for the Health Ministry said in a statement, “There is a lot of complaint about the safety of care.”

SOGC said it would not comment on data as it has not seen the full report.

Heads of a advocacy group who speak on behalf of patients say that he has seen a similar report for years without any investment.

“I am not surprised that there are more complaints coming in this particular field of practice,” said Cathleen Finele, Chief Executive Officer of Center for Patient Protection.

Fineley, who has worked as a patient’s lawyer for nearly 20 years, said that she often hears Ob-GYN patients saying, “She did not listen to me. I had a lot of concerns and I felt that I was being settled through this process. My questions were not answered.”

He said that to make changes to improve the patient’s experience, it is not being done enough at the regulatory level.

“There are many issues that are very painful from the perspective of a woman and not being treated with much about the honor she deserves.”