15,000 Canadians died in one year while on healthcare waiting lists: report

(Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) — Jane Stevenson was published in the Toronto Sun on January 15, 2025, reporting that at least 15,500 Canadians died between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, while on a waiting list for healthcare, according to data collected by SecondStreet.org through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Stevenson reported that:

… SecondStreet.org says the exact number of 15,474 is incomplete as Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador don’t track the problem and Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia only provided data on patients who died while waiting for surgeries – not diagnostic scans.

SecondStreet.org says if it extrapolates the unknown data, then an estimated 28,077 patients died last year on health care waiting lists covering everything from cancer treatment and heart operations to cataract surgery and MRI scans.

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On December 11, 2024, Canada's Ministry of Health released the Fifth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying which indicated that there were 15,343 reported euthanasia deaths representing 4.7 percent of all deaths in 2023.

Since euthanasia was legalized in June 2016, by December 31, 2023, there had been at least 60,301 euthanasia deaths in Canada since legalization.

Stevenson reported that SecondStreet.org identified at least 74,677 Canadians who died while waiting for care between April 2018 and March 31, 2024.

Statistics Canada states that there were 326,571 Canadian deaths in 2023.

When the number of Canadians who die while on a waiting list for treatment is combined with the number of euthanasia deaths, the number of deaths is overwhelming. This data does not include deaths from medical error.

Some euthanasia deaths are connected to Canadians who "choose" to die by euthanasia because they have waited in a queue for treatment and give up.

For instance, a National Post story reported on December 5, 2023, that Victoria, B.C., man Dan Quayle died by euthanasia while awaiting treatment.

Dan Quayle marked his 52nd birthday on Oct. 7 in Victoria General Hospital waiting to find out when chemotherapy would start for an aggressive form of esophageal cancer. He would die waiting.

After 10 weeks in hospital, Quayle, a gregarious grandfather who put on his best silly act for his two grandkids, was in so much pain, unable to eat or walk, he opted for a medically assisted death on Nov. 24. This was despite assurances from doctors that chemotherapy had the potential to prolong his life by a year.

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There was also the story of Allison Ducluzeau reported by Amy Judd and Kylie Stanton for Global News on November 27.

Ducluzeau was diagnosed with abdominal cancer and was offered euthanasia rather than treatment, instead she was successfully treated in the U.S.

Reprinted with permission from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.