The Toronto Vasectomy Clinic

In the course of dealing with this clinic, they moved locations three times. When my doctor referred me to the clinic, they were apparently located in Yorkville. When I booked my consultation – not that long after the initial referral, so perhaps they had already moved – they were at York Mills and Yonge. When I booked my surgery (which was, admittedly, quite a while after my consultation), they had moved again to Dundas and Bloor.
Booking the consultation was difficult… apparently, they only answer the telephone on Thursdays. The response times on telephone call backs was in the weeks rather than days, so eventually, I got them to communicate by e-​mail with me, which did make things a bit easier.
Dr. Bertucci did the consultation. Considering what is involved with this kind of consultation, his bedside manner did nothing to make things easier. Not only did he seem as if he would rather be doing anything else than be in that room at that time, he seemed like he was just going through the motions, right down to the monotone and rote recitation of the risks of the procedure. This made things even more awkward and uncomfortable than they otherwise should have been, and his behaviour was the main reason that I waited almost a year to book the procedure.
When the time came to have the procedure done, I was a bit surprised to find that it would be a different – female – doctor doing the procedure. No advance warning was given and no one asked in advance if I would have an issue with this. Given the mental effort that it can take to get to that point, giving patients a last minute surprise like that is hardly what I would call courteous or professional.
During the procedure, I experienced at one point quite a bit of sharp pain and discomfort. Although it was addressed quickly, I had not been warned that this was a possibility nor do I believe that it should happen. Add to this the fact that the doctor kept being interrupted – either by a knock at the door from Dr. Bertucci, or else because she had to go to another room (a couple of times) to get an instrument she didn’t have – and I would say that the procedure was quite a bit more… stressful then one might have hoped.
Finally, after the post-​vasectomy lab tests were sent to the clinic, they categorically refused to give me the results unless I made the (now quite) long trip out to the clinic for a five minute appointment for them to say it worked fine. They would fax them to my doctor (after sending me the consent form by POST and not by e-​mail), post them to me by registered mail if I sent them $ 45 or so, or fax the results to me for $ 30.
No encrypted e-​mail (more secure than fax, for heaven’s sake) and no results over the telephone (again, more secure than faxing again). In support of this «privacy policy» they quoted me an outdated discussion paper from the privacy commissioner. Moreover, the tone of the discussions was far from helpful: more like condescending and dismissive.
From start to finish, this place was unprofessional, rude, and, in a word «terrible.» Go somewhere else where the doctors understand professionalism and patient-​focussed care. This is not such a place.