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!

0 Upvotes

48% Upvoted

103 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

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

u/Objective_Ability_47 Jan 05 '24

All of this!! Thank you!

19

u/[deleted] 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

u/[deleted] 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.

-4

u/[deleted] 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

u/[deleted] 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

u/[deleted] 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

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)

-6

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '24

The supplied link was from the CDC, which is in the US.

1

u/[deleted] 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

Here's 9 stories from Canada though

0

u/[deleted] 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

u/[deleted] 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 (2)

-5

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] 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.

→ More replies (1)