More than 14,000 Canadians died while waiting for surgery, diagnostic scans, or other health services between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022, according to an updated report published March 2.
The data indicate that the cases include a wide array of health services—from hip operations and heart surgery to CT and MRI scans. Before dying while on a waiting list, patients had waited anywhere from less than a month to over eight years. Many died after waiting longer than the recommended wait time, said the report.
Each year, SecondStreet.org files freedom of information requests with health regions and provincial health bodies nationwide to obtain data on the number of patients who had been removed from waiting lists for surgery, diagnostic scans, and specialist appointments due to death. The organization also tracks the number of patients on wait-lists overall across Canada.
Some provinces extensively track and collect wait-time statistics, while some collect very little or none at all, said SecondStreet.org.
“With the exception of the province of Nova Scotia, provincial governments and their respective health bodies do not break down the number of patient deaths potentially linked to the state taking too long to provide needed services,” said Craig in a March 2 news release.
“Oddly, governments across Canada routinely require businesses to detail even the most minor workplace injuries such as accidents where employees are bruised as a result. If this is something businesses must track, why can’t the government tell us how many patients are dying due to long waiting lists?” he added.
In December 2022, the organization said data showed that waiting list deaths were at a four-year high since it began tracking the information in 2018–2019, and that surgical waiting list deaths were up more than 24 percent over the past four years.
