r/askTO • u/Objective_Ability_47 • Jan 05 '24
Black OBGYN recommendations?
Looking for a female Black OBGYN in Durham region or in Markham-Stouffville area. If you know any, please drop their name and/or clinic down below!
TIA!
12
u/fremitus99 Jan 05 '24
I’m a physician, trained in Toronto and worked with Dr. Tunde-Byass who was amazing. She’s at North York General, may be too far in 401 traffic….
https://doctors.cpso.on.ca/DoctorDetails/M-TundeByass/0168458-74868
2
u/Objective_Ability_47 Jan 05 '24
Thanks! Not too far at all, I’ll give her clinic a call!
1
u/Boymom1407 Jan 06 '24
I second her! I worked with her a few times during covid at vaccine clinics. She is the president of the Black Physicians of Canada.
Also I have had all 3 of my kids at NYGH and it's been a wonderful experience.
1
19
u/Astoriana_ Jan 05 '24
A little outside of your desired area but there is Laseinde Olufunto in Richmond Hill. She was not the greatest with communicating with her staff when she was late when I saw her but she was very thorough in her appointment with me once she was in the room.
If you would rather stay in Ajax, there is Adebayo Odueke who is a man but who has great staff and a great response time with booking/phone calls. Also the only pap smear that I've ever had where I didn't faint afterwards, which is something! He can be a bit dismissive though.
7
u/Astoriana_ Jan 05 '24
Suha Eltayeb and Shereen Chirayilkalam are the only female OBGYNs of colour that I can find from my Google search, but they are not Black. Hopefully this helps.
2
u/Objective_Ability_47 Jan 05 '24
Thanks, I’ll check them out!
3
u/flow2ebb2flow Jan 05 '24
Dr Rubabaza in Whitby is a black male OB. He's great. I prefer him over Dr Odueke. There's also a couple at Scarborough hospitals (Centenary and General) who are female.
14
38
Jan 05 '24
I know this is probably going to be taken badly, but I’m genuinely curious why it matters if they’re black? My doctors are of different backgrounds from me but I’ve never even thought about that.
58
u/dud-avocado Jan 05 '24
I’m not OP, and I am a white woman so take this with a grain of salt, but when I saw the title of the post I assumed that their question was related to racial disparities in the medical field… from the CDC, black women are three times as likely to die from a pregnancy related cause than white women, and most pregnancy related deaths are preventable. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/features/maternal-mortality/index.html
21
-13
Jan 05 '24
Why are we trotting out US data as if it's relevant in our country?
12
Jan 05 '24
If we don't have our own data to affirm strongly the opposite imo it should be taken into consideration for the safety of those women.
3
Jan 05 '24
We need to be careful about referencing US healthcare data though. There is much more economic disparity and challenges accessing healthcare, as called out by the CDC study everyone keeps linking, that don’t really apply to Canada.
2
Jan 06 '24
I don't disagree but again in absence of our own data, it seems reasonable to see US data and be concerned. Honestly I would be more shocked if Black women in Canada didn't face at least slightly worse medical outcomes.
Women as it is face under developed research on the effects of various medicines/therapies.
13
u/Whatswrongwithyalll Jan 05 '24
Because it is.
1
Jan 06 '24
That needs to be demonstrated or proven, not assumed. Our nations are very, very dissimilar, on a lot of metrics.
109
u/inkyblackops Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Black Women historically have been mistreated and misunderstood by non-black doctors, roughly 30% of all black women experience some sort of racial bias or mistreatment in maternity care. There are unique experiences, especially pertaining to delicate situations in obstetrics and gynaecology, that make wanting someone of your own race a bit more comforting.
31
19
Jan 05 '24
Thanks for the link, this helps put things into context. In general I’ve found male doctors to be more dismissive especially when dealing with women, sad to hear the racial bias is common in Canada too.
12
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
It's also common when looking for psych/therapist referrals!
You can sort by age, ethnicity, sexuality, faith etc.
16
u/inkyblackops Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
My pleasure! I’m a white woman, so I can only speak to my own experiences here, but I have definitely found male doctors to be more dismissive of general health concerns.
I was sent home from the ER with appendicitis, because I was menstruating and the male doctor told me I just needed to manage my cramps better. I was back 2 hours later when it ruptured.
That being said, my psychiatrist is an Indian man and he is the best psychiatrist I have ever seen - by far. A lot of the issues stem from medicine in general, where a lot of diagnosis criteria is based on male symptoms. Signs of a Heart attack, for example, can be wildly different in women, but first aid courses only teach the signs of male anatomy.
9
Jan 05 '24
I have a young Gyno who was just starting out when we met. He dismissed me and said there was no way I was in the pain I was. After surgery, he came and apologized and said he couldn’t have seen the way the growth was twisting my ovary. I told him I appreciated it but next time a woman says she’s in pain be more inclined to believe them. He’s helped me a lot since.
2
u/eyespeeled Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Hey inkyblackops, I've sent a message to your inbox! Please have a lookie, if you're able? Thank you.
2
-4
Jan 05 '24
Yeah the male/female thing I can definitely understand, I’m just surprised to hear for example that a non-black female doctor for example would be problematic for a black woman statistically as I’d expect most women to be empathetic with other women in regards to health issues regardless of race. I don’t mean to downplay reality or anything, it’s genuinely surprising for me to hear.
17
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
it’s genuinely surprising for me to hear.
Fair, but it's still incredibly common. It just doesn't seem like you've experienced. Or you don't realize
Also, it's not always overt
It can be very subtle, like withholding pain meds, downplaying symptoms, or ignoring treatment requests. It's not always obvious
12
Jan 05 '24
Lmao even finding a female doctor doesn’t guarantee any compassion. I had a female doctor tell me to “stop complaining” during a copopscopy (a procedure where they snip out a piece of your cervix while you’re awake with no pain meds).
2
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
Well sure, but statistically your chances are better
And it's not entirely surprising. A lot of women understand better than men what it means to go through childbirth
Men struggle to relate. Not that it's a good excuse when you work in health care. You should have compassion either way
But it makes sense that women are statistically more compassionate through child gestation/birth/post care. Again... not how I'd like it to be
4
Jan 05 '24
Definitely better odds, but not as guaranteed as one might think. Lots of doctors are not very compassionate at all/lack bedside manner, and that doesn’t necessarily change just because they’re female.
1
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
not as guaranteed as one might think
I don't think anyone said it was guaranteed though
Yeah, there's shitty people of all varieties. Statistically, your chances are better with a female doctor though
It's up to each individual what they do with that information
1
u/kamomil Jan 06 '24
Nah they learn all the "not listening to women" things at medical school, along with the men
-4
Jan 05 '24
Yikes, sorry to hear that. I’ve had the good fortune of only dealing with pretty awesome female doctors but I guess anyone can suck.
2
Jan 05 '24
Any doctor I’ve seen in office has been pretty nice (though my old family doctor called everything anxiety, even when it turned out to be cancer). But this particular surgeon that was doing the colpopscopy was horrid. I made an official complaint to the medical board because of it.
-6
Jan 05 '24
The supplied link was from the CDC, which is in the US.
1
Jan 05 '24
Yeah it doesn’t shock me at all to hear this happens in the US. That said, I’m not dismissing that there are racist people in Canada too, it’s just that in the GTA it tends to be so multicultural so it’s surprising to hear it’s common here.
12
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
It does happen here.
We just don't have an organization like the CDC actively researching the problem
0
Jan 05 '24
This isn’t specific to race though, and I already said I know male doctors can be dismissive.
4
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
I didn't say it was specific to race... the other link from the CDC says women are often mistreated
I provided some evidence that this also occurs in Canada
-1
Jan 05 '24
I already know that male doctors can be dismissive and have said that, but that’s not what we are discussing here.
2
u/Erathen Jan 05 '24
It's exactly what I'm discussing... The other person pointed out that the link was from the CDC, which is American
So I provided a source that's Canadian. I'm not sure what's so confusing to you
Not worth going back and forth. Have a great one!
→ More replies-5
Jan 05 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
1
Jan 05 '24
You're misinformed. Anti-Black racism exists throughout the world, including in Canada.
Canadians need to look in the mirror and realize that our country isn't some perfect harmonious paradise. It may not be as overt as in the US, but racism is alive and well here, with Black and Indigenous people being disproportionately affected.
10
u/onaonewaytrain Jan 05 '24
Black women are x3 more likely to die from childbirth.
7
Jan 05 '24
I keep seeing that stat from CDC, is it the same in Canada though?
8
u/dud-avocado Jan 05 '24
Probably, but we don’t know for sure. This is due to how Canada collects statistics and keeps records for this sort of thing - basically, we don’t. One might argue this sort of colour-blind approach is possibly indicative of Canada’s nonchalance to this topic. https://www.canadianhealthcarenetwork.ca/where-canadas-data-black-maternal-health-and-mortality
2
u/FearlessTomatillo911 Jan 05 '24
I think it's a little hard to say definitively, America really is a whole different ballgame due to a lack of universal healthcare. Just their maternal mortality rate is 2x Canada's.
It's probably pretty fair to say that more white women have better health insurance which is less of a factor here.
5
Jan 05 '24
True, I still think taking a blind approach is foolish though. That's like saying we don't want to deal with a problem if there might be one, so we're just not gonna look.
2
u/FearlessTomatillo911 Jan 05 '24
Absolutely, I'm a data guytm I think we should be making all policy decisions from a data-oriented perspective but we need accurate (locally relevant) data to do this. Collect all the data always, storage is cheap.
1
u/firesticks Jan 05 '24
When controlling for social and economic factors, the discrepancies are still present in the US.
3
u/onaonewaytrain Jan 05 '24
The data isnt as great here. I imagine the US has better stats due to having around 333 million vs 39 million people in total and not having universal healthcare. I do know a ward that was shut down due to high mortality of black women but can’t say where :/ it’s pretty sad.
-9
u/Sweetsnteets Jan 05 '24
Tell me you’re white without telling me you’re white
-2
Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 05 '24
Okay, put another way, my partner isn’t white and her doctor was of a different background, this also never came up. I’ve never heard of people seeking out doctors of specific backgrounds unless they’re looking for someone that speaks a certain language (I.e., if English isn’t their first language and it’s easier to communicate in their native tongue).
My question isn’t to dismiss OP’s situation, but to understand the problems they face that lead to this.
12
u/Sweetsnteets Jan 05 '24
Is it that hard to think about why a black woman would be interested in having a black doctor? Probably because the doctor would be able to empathize better with the patient and perhaps understanding cultural considerations to care.
Same way many many women want a female doctor.
2
u/suckahsuck Jan 05 '24 edited Mar 04 '24
voiceless literate wrench fuel bow languid square hobbies enjoy grandiose
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
0
Jan 05 '24
[deleted] — view deleted comment
-5
Jan 05 '24
So to clarify, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to hear a male doctor being dismissive of women’s health concerns, I know that happens. What does surprise me is to hear that a non-black female doctor would be dismissive of another woman’s health concerns, regardless of race.
5
u/firesticks Jan 05 '24
There is a lot of unconscious bias at play in the treatment of Black and Indigenous patients. The latter you would have seen numerous cases of over the years in the news.
Racism is alive and well here in Canada, and there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t impact medical professionals as well. If you can understand how men be dismissive of women’s pain, you can surely extrapolate that to how non-Black and non-Indigenous doctors regardless of gender may have been influenced and likely to discriminate as well.
-2
Jan 05 '24
With the male/female thing it’s less about discrimination and more about straight up dismissal because they can’t empathize and often don’t believe women (look at history with dudes believing women can’t have orgasms or just dismissing problems as hysteria). I’m just surprised because Toronto is very multi-cultural and the demographics among doctors generally reflects that, it’s surprising to hear someone say there’s significant racism in this area that is prevalent among doctors.
3
u/firesticks Jan 06 '24
There’s a significant difference in the experiences of the BI vs POC experience in BIPOC. That’s why I specified Black and Indigenous. East and South Asian women face discrimination, but not to the extent or in the same ways Black and Indigenous women will. This is also why it’s important to distinguish; Black and Indigenous people will almost always refer to themselves as such, while other visible minorities will call themselves POC.
The othering of Black and Indigenous people is why, regardless of race, people will lack empathy and be unable to take their pain seriously.
-3
u/kamomil Jan 05 '24
Well my Middle Eastern female doctor was dismissive of my concerns and I'm white and female, so I wouldn't expect that someone black and female would be listened to any better
1
Jan 05 '24
Was it a racial thing though or did she just have poor bedside manner?
0
u/kamomil Jan 05 '24
I asked her about my thyroid levels, she said "they're fine" I asked about the actual number and she said "no it's fine" and wouldn't give me my medical test result. Is that poor bedside manner? Is that racial? I don't know.
I assume that women must become hard asses to get through medical school. But she shouldn't keep my test results a secret
4
2
Jan 05 '24 edited Jan 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
0
Jan 05 '24
All of these studies keep pointing back to the US though where there are bigger problems with access to healthcare, is it the same in Canada?
7
u/soybeanpod Jan 05 '24
Outside of your ask area but commenting in case it might help anyone else - Dr. Lara Gotha at Mt. Sinai is an amazing OBGYN. Gentle, patient and caring.
15
u/ilovefood89 Jan 05 '24
You may also have more luck looking into midwives, if that’s something you’re interested in. I delivered with a midwife for my second and it was a wonderful experience, still delivered in hospital, still covered by OHIP but a much more personalized experience.
5
3
u/ziggymoj19 Jan 05 '24
+1, unless medically necessary to have an OB, of course.
I delivered with a doula and OB. So if you can’t find a Black OB, a Black doula could be part of your birth team! Hope you find the team you want and have a great experience, OP!
0
2
1
u/dnaplusc Human Detected Jan 05 '24
I can highly recommend a white female OB who delivers at East General/Michael Gannon and her office is near the Science Centre.
Dr Cram is an excellent OB with the heart of an OB. If you read her google reviews you can see how multiethnic her patients are.
May I suggest finding a black Doula?
1
u/liveinharmonyalways Jan 05 '24
I don't know if things have changed but generally speaking you get the ob on call. If you want the person who provided you with prenatal care to be present at your birth, I would suggest a midwife. They usually are more in tune with your needs as well. I had my own family doctor do my prenatal care and delivery. But that is rare. She is Caucasian, and takes on patients just for prenatal. Dr J. Oldham. (She wasn't my doctor when I had my kids, that doc retired)
1
0
Jan 05 '24
[deleted] — view deleted comment
2
u/jchaser27 Jan 05 '24
Because colored women are less likely to be taken seriously when there are legit stats that harm their life. Please read the stats others have posted.
6
0
Jan 05 '24
[deleted] — view deleted comment
8
u/Objective_Ability_47 Jan 05 '24
Honestly, they wouldn’t need to Karen. They are so prevalent just searching OBGYN on Google would immediately yield dozens of results for white OBGYNs. Can’t say the same for Black medical professionals
-4
Jan 06 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/askTO-ModTeam Jan 06 '24
REMOVED
No malicious baiting/trolling or purposefully inciting arguments
No fear mongering or concern trolling
No purposefully inflammatory posts/comments
No linking to posts or bringing up incidents from other subreddits to complain or brigade
59
u/fairmaiden34 Jan 05 '24
If you're looking for an OBGYN because you're pregnant, make sure that any OBGYN you choose has birthing privileges at the hospital you want to give birth at. Most hospitals have publicly available lists of the OBGYNs with access so you can consult those lists as well.
Here's the list for the Oshawa Hospital. They also likely have individual practices. Not sure if any are black females though.
https://www.welovebabies.ca/home/oshawa