Obstetrical, gynecological care patient complaints on the rise in Ontario, says patient ombudsman

New data shows more people are filing complaints about obstetrical and gynecological care in Ontario, with insensitivity, poor communication and lack of trauma awareness among the most common grievances.

Ontario's Patient Ombudsman Craig Thompson says his office received 168 complaints between April 2024 and March 2025, compared to 130 over the same period the previous year — a 29 per cent increase.

Complainants also detailed experiencing a lack of responsive care to factors such as history of sexual assault, pregnancy complications, miscarriages, and difficult births.

Many complaints were related to pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal care provided in hospitals, he said. There's also been an increase in complaints regarding services at community surgical and diagnostic centres that do ultrasounds, X-rays and surgical procedures.

Complaints are filed online, by email, fax or mail, and then reviewed by the ombudsman, who engages with both parties to reach a resolution.

National data from the Canadian Medical Protective Association suggests patient complaints across medical disciplines are on the rise, with more than 4,045 in 2020, up from 3,379 in 2016. They said many complaints showed communication was an underlying issue.

The Ontario ombudsman's data will be published later this year in an annual report on the overall number and themes of health-system complaints, but Thompson shared the ob-gyn numbers with The Canadian Press in the wake of an investigation published last week that included several patients alleging neglectful care going back almost a decade by the same Toronto doctor.

The patients described traumatic experiences while under the care of ob-gyn Dr. Esther Park, with some alleging they were not adequately informed about certain procedures performed at her clinic and the hospital she worked at for 25 years.

Dr. Park stopped practising medicine in April. Attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful.

In the ombudsman's last annual report released in March, the number of obstetrical and gynecological-related complaints in the province was described as an "emerging concern" that Thompson said he would continue to monitor.

While Thompson said the way women's health is delivered in Ontario has been an issue for many years, he said what's new is the number of grievances about obstetrics and gynecology, and the nature of the complaints.

"We are in that role of a bit of the canary in the coal mine. We identify early signals of a problem," he said, explaining that annual reports are shared with the province's ministries of health, long-term care, and relevant health agencies.

The patient ombudsman's role was created by the provincial government in 2016 to help resolve complaints and conduct investigations on issues of public interest.

Thompson calls his office the "last resort" for patients who are not satisfied with a hospital's response to a complaint, and who need help reaching a resolution. But he also tries to pinpoint if a broader issue needs to be investigated and what can be done.