Tens of thousands of Canadians died waiting for medical care in the past year: report

An undated stock image of a doctor's stethoscope and a pen (Pixabay/Pexels).

A new report is raising alarm over growing wait-list deaths in Canada.

The report from public policy think tank SecondStreet.org revealed that at least 23,746 patients died in Canada while waiting for surgeries or diagnostic procedures between April 2024 and March 2025.

The figures are a three per cent increase from the previous year and push the total number of reported wait-list deaths since 2018 to more than 100,000.

The organization says the findings are based on freedom of information (FOI) requests summitted to more than 40 provincial and territorial health bodies.

The report warned that several jurisdictions provided only partial data, while Alberta and some parts of Manitoba provided none, meaning the true total is likely higher.

“It’s interesting that governments will regularly inspect restaurants and report publicly if there’s a minor problem such as a missing paper towel holder,” SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig said in a news release. “Meanwhile, no government reports publicly on patients dying on waiting lists. It’s quite hypocritical.”

Behind the numbers

Behind the statistics are the lives of Canadians like Debbie Fewster, a Manitoba mother of three who was told in July 2024 she needed heart surgery within three weeks, the report says.

Instead, she waited more than two months. She died on Thanksgiving Day.

Her death, like many others, became public only because her family spoke out, the report says.

Similar stories have emerged across the country: 19-year-old Laura Hillier and 16-year-old Finlay van der Werken of Ontario who died while waiting for treatment; Alberta’s Jerry Dunham also passed away in 2020 while waiting for a pacemaker.

Widespread strain

Ontario recorded the highest number of wait-list deaths: 10,634, including more than 9,100 diagnostic-scan deaths where patients died before reaching the point of receiving or being scheduled for surgery.

Quebec was second with 6,290, while B.C. followed with 4,620. Smaller provinces also saw a number of deaths including Nova Scotia (727), Newfoundland and Labrador (542), Saskatchewan (419), Prince Edward Island (178) and New Brunswick (121).

Manitoba reported 215 deaths but that data is partial.

The report emphasizes that the bulk of wait-list deaths occurred among patients awaiting procedures that could have improved their quality of life, such as hip and knee surgeries, cataract operations and MRIs, but a significant subset involved potentially life-saving interventions including heart surgeries and cancer treatments.

Ontario’s cardiac data alone showed 355 deaths among patients waiting for heart procedures. In at least 90 cases, patients waited beyond recommended timelines or more than 90 days.

The wait times associated with some recorded deaths ranged from under a week to nearly nine years.

The organization noted that even waiting for “non-life-saving” procedures can become life-altering. Patients awaiting cataract surgery may lose functional vision, for example, while those waiting for joint replacement often live sedentary lives increasing the risk of falls, blood clots or other complications.

Issue isn’t funding: report

At $244 billion, public health-care spending from 2024 to 2025 reached a historic high, the report said, with per-capita spending tripling to $5,943 from the mid-1990s. Canada also remains one of the world’s top health-care spenders.

But high spending has not translated into improved performance, the report said.

The brief cites research from the Fraser Institute showing Canada has fewer doctors, hospital beds and MRI machines per capita than many other universal health-care systems – and longer wait times.

Calls for reform

The brief outlines key policy options that provincial governments could adopt to reduce wait times and prevent further deaths.

One is tracking and disclosing wait-list deaths. A 2021 poll commissioned by SecondStreet.org found that 79 per cent of Canadians think governments should carefully track and disclose data on how long patients wait for care, how that compares to maximum recommended waiting periods, and what the eventual patient outcome is.

Another proposed policy change is adopting activity-based funding where hospitals are paid based on the number of patients they treat rather than receiving large annual lump-sum budgets.

Other recommendations include partnering with private clinics at lower costs than hospitals, providing patients a mix of public and private options, and adopting an EU-style “Cross Border Directive” that would allow patients to seek treatment elsewhere either within or outside Canada and be reimbursed up to the amount their provincial government would have spent.