A pregnant woman says she was kicked out of a LaSalle OBGYN clinic — in the middle of an appointment — and told by her doctor not to come back, after she wrote a negative review of the clinic on a Facebook page.
On Wednesday, Courtney Orbin went to her OBGYN for her 19th-week appointment. She was told her baby's heartbeat was fine, and then her doctor brought up a Facebook post she wrote six weeks ago.
"She say, 'let me stop you right there, we have to talk," Orbin told CJAD 800. "You know, you defamed me on the Internet, you were not nice to my receptionist, and I will no longer see you."
The post in question, on a closed parents' forum on Facebook, complained about how she was having a hard time reaching her doctor, and how her receptionist was less than helpful.
"Is it normal for an OBGYN to not be reachable," the post to the group Parents NDG dated June 4 reads. "I have a test result that needs her attention but can't even get a call back and the only person is a snotty receptionist who won't even pass on the message. Is this what public healthcare is about. Medicaid doctors in the states are at least reachable. Feeling really disillusioned and worried."
Orbin, who's from the United States, was dismayed at how, in this age where you can rate everything on the Internet — including doctors — she's been tossed out, and forced to finds a new doctor, because of an online post.
"We have Rate Your MD, you can rate people online," she said. "Is this sufficient enough precedent for doctors to now be offended by you commenting on patient care and long wait times. Is that enough to drop you as a patient?"
Worse still, she says while sitting in the waiting room demanding an explanation, police arrived. They were called, specifically, to escort her out of the building.
"I don't think that that was necessary. I was no more assertive than anybody at a restaurant who feels like they've been treated poorly," Orbin said.
Orbin says she expected better from a Canadian medical institution.
"Call me one of the wide-eyed people...I believed in the Canadian dream. People were kinder here. I was just really shocked to receive this kind of treatment."
She now says she's looking for a new doctor, and intends to lodge a complaint with the board of obstetrics in Quebec, and the LaSalle hospital ombudsman.
The clinic says it has no comment to give.