Shows no care for her patients. Blames other health professionals or clinical staff for her mistakes.

Submitted Sept. 14, 2023

waiting 50 mins, after my appointment time, not with a patient. No appology either.
I had travelled 2rs, 45 mins to get to my appointment on time.

She did not even examine my stomach or seem interested at all.
Waste of my day!

Submitted July 4, 2023

I waited almost 2 years to see Dr. Targownik and she cancelled my appointment twice without warning. One of the cancellations was the day before I was supposed to see her. I had tried calling and emailing her office several times and never got a response. Naturally, my symptoms got worse the longer I was forced to wait so eventually my family doctor referred me to another gastroenterologist who booked me in for an emergency colonoscopy and gastroscopy. The scope didn’t show any abnormalities and the doctor didn’t advise a follow up appointment and sent me on my way. I was so discouraged but reminded myself that I was still going to see Dr. Targownik who is a specialist and that eased my mind. I finally went to Mount Sinai to see her for my appointment today. I waited almost an hour. Her receptionist (not Joanne) was extremely rude and barely spoke to me and just told me to wait in the hall. Finally, Dr. Targownik came out into the hall, only to tell me that she would not see me as a patient. She told me that because I had recently seen another gastroenterologist, I would have to follow up with him. I proceeded to tell her the situation and that I had no choice but to get a colonoscopy and gastroscopy by another doctor because of how long I was forced to wait and how much pain I was in. And I told her that he didn’t see any abnormalities but that I was still suffering with symptoms everyday and was praying that she would be able to assess me. She then blamed me for not calling the office before I came in to which i responded, “why would I have called? I would never have assumed that you wouldn’t see me as a patient! I’ve been waiting to see you for almost 2 years and I had called several times and have never been able to speak to anyone”. She told me there was nothing she would do for me and told me to leave. I left in tears. I’m a 32 year old woman and I have been suffering with debilitating digestive symptoms since I was 24 and I am constantly getting the run around by these doctors. I have so much medical trauma from being dismissed and mistreated by the Canadian medical system. If you have the option, see another doctor. I wish I had listened to the negative reviews I read about her but was hoping they were wrong. Can confirm that they were accurate. I wish doctors like Dr. Targownik were held accountable for the deplorable way they treat patients. All I can do is leave this review and hope that it helps someone else avoid her because god knows she will never have to answer for anything.

Submitted March 20, 2023

I waited almost 2 years to see Dr. Targownik and she cancelled my appointment twice without warning. One of the cancellations was the day before I was supposed to see her. I had tried calling and emailing her office several times and never got a response. Naturally, my symptoms got worse the longer I was forced to wait so eventually my family doctor referred me to another gastroenterologist who booked me in for an emergency colonoscopy and gastroscopy. The scope didn’t show any abnormalities and the doctor didn’t advise a follow up appointment and sent me on my way. I was so discouraged but reminded myself that I was still going to see Dr. Targownik who is a specialist and that eased my mind. I finally went to Mount Sinai to see her for my appointment today. I waited almost an hour. Her receptionist (not Joanne) was extremely rude and barely spoke to me and just told me to wait in the hall. Finally, Dr. Targownik came out into the hall, only to tell me that she would not see me as a patient. She told me that because I had recently seen another gastroenterologist, I would have to follow up with him. I proceeded to tell her the situation and that I had no choice but to get a colonoscopy and gastroscopy by another doctor because of how long I was forced to wait and how much pain I was in. And I told her that he didn’t see any abnormalities but that I was still suffering with symptoms everyday and was praying that she would be able to assess me. She then blamed me for not calling the office before I came in to which i responded, “why would I have called? I would never have assumed that you wouldn’t see me as a patient! I’ve been waiting to see you for almost 2 years and I had called several times and have never been able to speak to anyone”. She told me there was nothing she would do for me and told me to leave. I left in tears. I’m a 32 year old woman and I have been suffering with debilitating digestive symptoms since I was 24 and I am constantly getting the run around by these doctors. I have so much medical trauma from being dismissed and mistreated by the Canadian medical system. If you have the option, see another doctor. I wish I had listened to the negative reviews I read about her but was hoping they were wrong. Can confirm that they were accurate. I wish doctors like Dr. Targownik were held accountable for the deplorable way they treat patients. All I can do is leave this review and hope that it helps someone else avoid her because god knows she will never have to answer for anything.

Submitted March 20, 2023

I was thrilled to be referred to Dr. Targownik and to have her as my gastroenterologist. When we first met, she was so calming and listened patiently to my symptom history. She recommended a colonoscopy and sure enough the pathology revealed a diagnosis that explained my symptoms. She explained the symptom management plan with care and made me feel confident about handling the issue in the future. Her gentle manner combined with her clear expertise just made me feel so at ease. I recommend this highly qualified gastroenterologist if you can get her!

Submitted March 6, 2023

I know when there's negative reviews, it usually comes from actual client/patient who are seriously pissed off and I did leave negative reviews about my family doctor (Ashraf Salib) on this site. It's just that when there's positive reviews, they all seem to be fake review left by family/friends/relatives/staffs or paid reviews, and all of them sound the same like how wonderful is the doctor and staffs in less than 3 sentence and all.

Well, I'm here to leave a positive review but I don't want anyone to take this as a fake review, so I'm gonna be as detailed as possible and just based on what actually happened instead of talking about some soulless compliments (well, I'm bad at complimenting others to begin with) , so you can judge this yourself.

I saw Dr.Targownik today at 1 PM. I actually read these reviews here about 2 weeks ago and I saw her latest reviews were not very good, so I was already prepared to wait for 1-2 hours and not getting anything sort out in the end or whatever (which happened before with other doctors I saw, especially my family doctor who is good for nothing and doesn't even have degree from North America).

However, my experience with Dr.Targownik was great, in fact, there was not a single problem and it was just perfect.

My mom and I arrive at her office at 12:55 PM because we had some trouble finding the office/room, but after talking to the staff (Joanna Lee), the doctor greeted us in just few minutes.

She asked about the reason for the visit, and I explained her as much as I could, and she didn't interrupt me once unlike some of the comments here. We moved to another room to do some test as well (I think it was to test my internal muscle reflex or something). She suggested some of the remedies I can take/do myself and some clinic referrals if I was interested in, though she explained it'd take long waiting (well, I have nothing to lose anyway). Also, she said most of people don't really find problem from colonoscopy but some just do it to ease their mind and some just don't want to do it even if suggested, so she explained that's something I can think about. I told her that I actually want to take both colonoscopy and gastroscopy just in case, and just like that, I got appointment for those next week.

I asked this (endoscopy) from my family doctor since last June, because I was concerned about colon cancer but he didn't do a thing for me, or refer me to something I am not looking for or very far (in Oakville). His office, which is within 3 min walk distance from my home is located in Scarborough, can you believe that? He'd just say he found nothing wrong in my blood test but colon cancer requires colonoscopy to find it out, not blood test. He has no idea what he's talking about.

So, I visited emergency department in St.Michael's hospital and that's how I was referred to Dr.Targownik at Mount Sinai. The waiting period took longer than I expected (which was about 4 months) but it was all worth it. Something my family doctor (I don't even want to call him a human, let alone doctor, and I actually doubt he actually holds a medical degree) didn't do for me over 8 months, Dr.Targownik solved that problem for me in like 15 min or something. I'm so happy and glad I was referred to her.

Also, Joanna Lee was pretty helpful indicating what are the things I need to prepare for the test next week, like which ones I need to pay more attention to and what other prep medication I can take and so on.

I don't know if Dr.Targownik or Joanna Lee or her other staffs ever read reviews here, but if anyone of them read this, I just want to say, "Thank you very much. I already feel so much better. I hope you have wonderful times this year!"

Submitted Feb. 15, 2023

Laura is very knowledgeable and is okay. My issue is with her assistant/secretary. There is no way of reaching Laura directly and the assistant is just rude. Doesn’t respond to emails or return calls. When she does it’s just a one liner. No follow up from Laura or her. Been over 4 months since my test and I finally got a hold of her this week with a response of “you will need a follow up”……That’s it no mention of when that will be or how she help book me.

Submitted March 18, 2022

This doctor is one of the worst I've had. It is impossible to reach her as her patient. She will cancel appointments on you, and leave you hanging for weeks. She will not answer simple questions over email, and will not give you a quick phone call to answer any of your questions. If you can find any other doctor, do it. I have been trying to reach her about medication dosage for weeks now, and she will not speak to me. You'd think that this would be an important topic. But she really does not care - quite frankly, she's unprofessional and inflexible. To be fair, she's knowledgeable, but what good is that knowledge if the patient can't access it? My advice, find someone else who will at least find time for their patients.

Submitted March 17, 2022

After disappointing consult, I would never return to see this Dr. Completely uninterested in trying to investigate my chronic constipation over decades and suggested using laxatives on a daily basis. She’s checked out and I wouldn’t trust her to diagnose or treat me.

Submitted March 14, 2022

Staff does not check the voice mail. I called to cancel a procedure 4 days in advance (I was able to get a last minute covid vax, I had bad reactions previously so wanted to err on side of caution and reschedule my procedure). I leave a voice mail to this effect. Her and her staff then barrage me with nasty messages and phone calls, saying this is all my fault, and if I want the procedure I need to pay $300 even though it's not my fault this person did not check voicemail for 4 days. How should I have to spend $300 for her mistake?

When I saw her in person she had me wait an hour late to see her (for a scheduled appt, I guess she double booked me w/ some time she had a meeting), and I had to ask her to put her mask on, as she was not wearing one at Mt Sinai. Insane for me to have to tell a doctor that. She also thought (incorrectly) that burn marks on my stomach were weight loss marks... these two things look very different, lol. Don't recommend this doctor or her staff. I'm sure she is knowledgeable but I've rarely been treated so disrespectfully, and it's wild to blame ME for her staff not checking and relaying voicemail w 4 days notice.

Submitted Feb. 4, 2022