Quebec emergency rooms have been severely overcrowded following the holidays with several major Montreal hospitals operating at a capacity rate of over 200%.
According to data tabulated by the Index Santé, the Montreal General Hospital was at 213% ER capacity on Friday afternoon, while the Jewish General Hospital was reportedly operating at 209% capacity.
Additionally, the Royal Victoria Hospital, which is connected to the McGill University Health Centre reported a 203% capacity.
Quebec government data also reported the average ER wait time across the province to be five hours, while the average time for patients on a stretcher has surpassed 16 hours.
The stretcher occupancy rate as of Friday was at 125%, with 829 patients having waited over 24 hours for service and another 296 patients waiting over 48 hours.
News of the overcrowded emergency rooms comes on the heels of a young Canadian writer and activist who died after waiting over six hours in an emergency room for further screening.
Adam Burgoyne, 39, posted to X on Dec. 5, 2024, about his experience in a Quebec emergency room a day before his tragic death.
He said he went to the emergency room after feeling a pain in the left side of his chest, having nausea and clammy skin. After attempting to calm himself and breathe through it, things got worse and he decided to go to the emergency room.
“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 six hours later, I said f*ck it and went home,” the post said. “Canadian health care, folks. Best in the world.”
A day after the post was made, Burgoyne died of an aortic aneurysm.
This is far from a new problem for the province as Quebec emergency room capacities have hit over 200% several times throughout last year.
Quebec’s healthcare system has been steadily deteriorating to the point where patients seeking urgent care simply abandon emergency rooms due to excessive wait times.
Between Apr. 1, 2023, and Feb. 24, 2024, 3,265,349 patients visited emergency rooms in Quebec. Of these patients, 376,460, or 11.5%, left before seeing a physician.
