Nicole

11 April 2026

Reply

I am extremely disappointed with the care we received at The Hospital for Sick Children on April 11th.

My child has a long, well-documented history of recurring ear infections—over 10 in the past 1.5 years—requiring multiple antibiotics and ongoing medical attention. On March 21st, we were seen at SickKids and told by a physician that he had a perforated eardrum. We were advised to return if things didn’t improve. Fast forward to April 11th: symptoms worsened, redness persisted, and even the day prior, a nurse practitioner confirmed the rupture via otoscope.

When we arrived, the medical student working with Joshua Posen was thorough, kind, and attentive. She identified redness in both ears and confirmed a hole in the right eardrum—consistent with everything we had been told up to that point.

Then Dr. Posen entered—and everything went downhill.
His demeanor was immediately hostile and dismissive. Within seconds of a rushed exam, he flatly stated there was “no infection” and “no perforation.” When I calmly asked what he saw that led him to that conclusion, his response was, “umm, my degree?”—which set the tone for the entire interaction: arrogant, defensive, and completely unprofessional.

When I asked if an ENT could assess my son given his extensive history, he snapped back that it was “not happening” and sarcastically suggested he should pull a specialist out of surgery for cancer or hearing loss patients. He raised his voice, accused me of being disrespectful, and claimed I had “diagnosed” my own child—simply for repeating what multiple healthcare professionals had already told me.

Let’s be clear: advocating for your child is not diagnosing them. It’s parenting.

Despite my child being in visible distress—ongoing pain, poor appetite, and needing constant pain medication—Dr. Posen was ready to send us home with nothing. No answers, no treatment, no follow-up.

I pulled up prior documentation from my son’s previous infections, as well as the note from the doctor that assessed my son 3 weeks prior. He claimed to be surprised that that visit summary was not merged with this one. We insisted he re-examine our son and only then did his tone and conclusions start to change. Suddenly, he acknowledged redness and diagnosed recurring otitis externa. From there, he prescribed medication, arranged a pediatric follow-up, and completed the ENT referral—everything he initially refused to do.

So we did eventually get the care our child needed—but only because we refused to back down.
That’s the most concerning part.
Parents should not have to fight, argue, and endure disrespect just to receive appropriate medical care for their child. A physician’s ego should never stand in the way of a proper assessment, especially when a child is clearly suffering and there is a documented medical history to consider.

This experience was not just disappointing—it was unacceptable.