Years before some 2,500 patients from a Toronto gynecologist were warned about a possible risk of infection linked to incorrectly clean tools, Rachael Millanta filed a complaint about his experience in the clinic.
After CBC Toronto was the first to inform about Dr. Esther Park’s office, where Toronto Public Health said earlier this month that the cleaning protocols were not followed, several patients have presented themselves to share their negative encounters with Park, many expressing their frustration that their voices were not being heard.
Millanta was one of them.
Millanta said he filed a complaint before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) in April 2021. He said that Dr. Park asked him personal questions with the door open and told him to undress from the waist while the door remained open.
CBC News has seen the documents filed in the CPSO. In his complaint, Millanta wrote that when he asked for a dress or covering, they told him that he should have brought his home.
“She told me to cover me with my clothes … I was wearing socks at that time, so that was not particularly great, but I really didn’t know what to do,” Millanta recalled in an interview with CBC Toronto.
After that, Millanta said they gave a painful internal examination to which he did not consented, which made her bleed. Millanta said they also gave him a recipe without information about what was or any detail of his medical condition.
Millanta said he called his mother crying later and filed a complaint with the CPSO immediately.
Complaints about ‘feeling hurried or not feeling completely informed’
She said she received an university response several months later, in which Park refuted most of Millanta’s statements.
“The respondent says that while he regrets the plaintiff, she is not satisfied with her level of professionalism, she does not agree with this concern,” said the document. Park’s response in the document also claimed to be clear about the exam process and the prescription explanation.
The decision of the University, dated September 21, 2021, included issuing “advice on professional communication and empathic and sensitive commitment; which is not appropriate to leave the patient requesting or bringing it from home … to guarantee a complete gynecological history and evaluation and that the documentation is comprehensive and properly reflects the details of the consultation.”
In his response to Millanta, the CPSO said there were multiple complaints against Park.
“The history of previous complaints of the surveyed at the University includes issues in which patients have sometimes transmitted feeling hurried or not feeling completely informed by the defendant,” says the documents.
CPSO says he can’t share the number of complaints
The CPSO says that the Park is investigating in relation to infection control problems in its practice.
CBC Toronto asked the University for the number of complaints filed against Park. A spokesman said they could not provide that information due to confidentiality restrictions. More details about the university show Park license have been restricted since December 2024.
CBC Toronto contacted the clinic, but a staff member said Park would not comment.
The answering machine of the office says that the doctor retires and that the clinic will close in April. The CPSO said that an investigation can continue while a doctor remains registered in the university, as well as after renouncing or allows her to register the beat.
“Patients can also file a complaint to CPSO after a doctor stops practicing when the concern or behavior is related to the moment the doctor was a member,” said the university in a statement.
Sandra Cole, another former patient from the park, stayed out of the clinic with a sign this week. His goal was to warn patients and demand responsibility, he said.
“We need to start exposing these doctors and we must begin to expose to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons and their lack of responsibility once and for all,” he said, added that he felt goodbye to the doctor and had concerns about the park that did not change his gloves.
The CPSO said in a statement to CBC News that “takes all concerns seriously and undertakes to guarantee the safety of patients.”
The lawyer indicates the legal options
Kristina Maitland, associated lawyer for medical negligence in Neinstein, LLP personal injury lawyers, says that if a patient is not satisfied with a CPSO decision, there is also the legal route.
“Then, if a patient feels that the complaint process has not obtained the resolution they expected or the closure they want, a demand can sometimes be a better option because it is more focused on ensuring that there is recovery for the plaintiffs themselves, due to the specific damage they suffered,” said Maitland.
Maitland said it is important that patients seek legal opinion as soon as possible after an incident to ensure that they are aware of their options and avoid any problem with limitation periods.
Toronto Public Health says that the clinic corrected the problems of infection control and that it had no continuous concerns after October 10.
But for patients like Millanta, the negative experience he had is left with her.
“It was undoubtedly the most traumatic experience I have had with any medical professional, possibly anyone, at all.”
