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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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A Canadian man died the day after he gave up on a lengthy hospital wait last week, sparking debate about Canada's universal healthcare as debate rages in the U.S. over the state of the American for-profit system.
Adam Burgoyne, a 39-year-old resident of Montreal, Quebec, died on December 6 after suffering an aneurysm, according to an online obituary.
A day earlier, he had posted about his experience with the Canadian healthcare system on X, formerly Twitter, writing that after doctors made sure he wasn't in a life-threatening condition, he was moved to the waiting room, where he sat for six hours before deciding to pack up and go home.
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"Had a bit of a health scare last night, but thankfully it wasn't a heart attack. Not sure what it was, though, because once they made sure I wasn't dying I was thrown out into the waiting room and 6 hours later I said f*ck it and went home," Burgoyne said. "Canadian health care, folks. Best in the world."
In the comments, where his followers wished him well, Burgoyne said he received an electrocardiogram, but that there was no bloodwork or X-ray done to assess his condition. He told followers that he didn't believe it was a panic attack, which he had experienced before, and that "it felt purely physical."
"Pain in the chest on the left side, nausea, clammy skin. Tried to just breathe a bit and see what happened but it started to get worse so I went to the ER," he wrote on December 5.
Burgoyne's story has renewed criticisms about Canada's publicly-funded healthcare system, which works under a decentralized collection of provincial and territorial health insurance plans that is essentially free for patients at the point of care.
Because the country's health system is founded on the principle of access and not ability to pay, many Canadians who can afford American healthcare will often travel south to the U.S. for elective procedures.
"There are amazing people who work within the Canadian health system—ER doctors who really care, incredible nurses...but our system is broken, and has been for quite some time," Canadian journalist Katherine Brodsky wrote on X in response to Buroyne's death.
"People die waiting for proper diagnosis. There's too few doctors. Too few resources. Too few PET scan machines (around 56 PET scanners compared to the 2,370 in the U.S.) Wait times so long in the ER that many people are too afraid to go. And so on and on," Brodsky tweeted. "It cannot go on like this. We can change this, while ensuring that everyone is covered, but it takes a real will."
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The Fraser Institute, a conservative public policy think tank in Canada, said Thursday that Canadian patients waited longer than ever this year for medical treatment.
The institute's 2024 report found that physicians across Canada reported a median wait time of 30 weeks between a referral from a general practitioner to receipt of treatment. Last year, the median wait time was 27.7 weeks. Quebec, where Buroyne lived, reported the second shortest total wait time this year, with a median wait time of 28.9 weeks.
Other Canadian users on X also commented with their own stories of long wait times.
"Damn....I was having recurring chest pains and got bad enough that I went to the hospital (also Canadian) Same thing, I got spit into the waiting room and I was there for 10 hours before they said I was fine. This is concerning," @Beersteve, a user from British Columbia, wrote.
"Had pretty much the identical experience here in Manitoba 3 months ago, so I went home. Then, it took 3+ months to talk to my own Dr on the phone for a followup," said another.
Burgoyne's sudden death comes amid a roiling debate in the U.S. over the cost and efficacy of private insurance, coming after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead in New York City by an alleged assassin with an apparent grudge against the health insurance industry and its denial of thousands of life-saving claims every year. It has also prompted calls for more affordable health care and broader health care reform.
The online obituary for Buroyne reads: "His many family and friends will miss his sarcastic humour, his quick wit, his deeply felt convictions, his smarts, and his way of cutting through any stormy situation to reveal the core of what really matters."
"We will carry on with his spirit demanding high convictions of all of us. We will carry on without him reluctantly but steadfastly. We will miss him and love him deeply until the end of time," it said.
Newsweek has reached out to the Buroyne family for comment.
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