Aaron Derfel

7) The reason for this is simple: This reshuffling of the deck chairs on Quebec's Titanic medical system is being carried out with the same number of medical staff. The staff are just moving from the public to the private sector, creating more shortages in the public system. End of thread.

6) Health Minister Christian Dubé's latest proposal is to shift backlogged surgeries like knee and hip replacements from the public system to the private sector at greater cost to taxpayers. But this transfer indirectly weakens the public system in the long run.

5) A growing number of orthopedic surgeons — fed up with the lack of resources in the public system — have opted out of medicare and are operating in the private-for-profit sector. This trend has been gaining momentum under Santé Québec.

montrealgazette.com/news/reveale...

4) At present, 150 operating rooms in the public network are closed each weekday in Quebec for lack of staff. This has contributed to a ballooning of wait times for surgery. As of Sept. 20, 6,200 Quebecers were on wait lists of at least a year for their operation.

La montée du privé-privé en santé doit être freinée En plus d’affamer à répétition la première ligne de la médecine familiale, nos gouvernements ont fermé les yeux sur la montée du privé-privé.

3) Astute political analyst Josée Legault has sometimes written about this phenomenon. She uses a great French word to describe it: "vampiriser." Below is one of her columns on the subject.

www.journaldemontreal.com/2023/02/17/l...

Quebec proposes private surgeries for patients waiting at least a year in the public system "The worst part is the CAQ admits outright that surgeries will cost more in the private sector. It's nonsense," union leader Réjean Leclerc says.

2) Click below to read my original story on the subject in the @mtlgazette.bsky.social. The upshot is that more and more the Coalition Avenir Québec government is embracing private-sector options in health care — often to the detriment of the public system.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Quebec wants to hand over backlogged surgeries in the public sector to the private system - Montreal Now with Aaron Rand Podcast Aaron Derfel, investigative health reporter at the Montreal Gazette

1) How Quebec is playing musical chairs on the deck of the Titanic. Here is my interview earlier today with CJAD's Aaron Rand on the government's latest proposal to transfer heavily backlogged surgeries from the public system to the private-for-profit sector.
omny.fm/shows/montre...

11) But in Canada, physicians like @dralandrummond.bsky.social have been sounding the alarm for years, likening Canadian ERs to dying canaries in a coal mine shaft. Yet nothing has been done.

Nothing.

End of thread.

More than 800 deaths in Scotland linked to long A&E waits The Royal College of Emergency Medicine found that 76,510 people waited more than 12 hours in emergency departments last year.

10) The New York Tiimes article is calling attention to an ER crisis unfolding in the United States. In September, the BBC reported on more than "800 deaths linked to long A&E waits" in Scotland. Thus, this problem is no longer unique to Canada.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

9) The MEI study points out the situation has been growing worse in ERs since 2019. The chart below shows nearly 27% of Quebec ER patients languishing on stretchers for at least 24 hours. The goal should be zero for that length of time. Also note no improvement since 2020.

8) In September, the Montreal Economic Institute published a study that concluded "too many Canadians are leaving emergency rooms untreated." Quebec reported the highest number for 2024-2025 of any province: a staggering 428,676.

Grandfather's sudden death in Laval ER after not seeing doctor for 11 hours under investigation Umberto Mastantuono had already been at the Cité-de-la-Santé emergency room for hours and did not want to be moved. “He trusted the fact that I’m in a hospital,” said his wife Diamante Mastantuono. “‘...

7) In February, a 69-year-old Laval man with a history of arrhythmia died after waiting for 11 hours in the Cité de la santé hospital ER without ever seeing a doctor, his family says.

montreal.citynews.ca/2025/02/17/g...

Ontario couple whose teenage son died after 8-hour wait in ER calls for law reform | CBC News An Ontario family is calling on the provincial government to introduce legislation that would set maximum emergency room wait times for children after their teenage son died following an eight-hour wa...

6) Flash-forward to 2025. What is the situation like today in Canadian ERs? In August, an Ontario family called on the government to set maximum pediatric ER wait times after their 16-year-old son died following an eight-hour wait for a doctor last year.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

5) In February 2023, I wrote a four-part series about six deaths in the ER of Lakeshore General Hospital in the Montreal suburb of Pointe-Claire. Those deaths could have been prevented.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

4) As the Times noted, the American College of Emergency Physicians warned that “boarding” — in which patients wait in the ER for days and sometimes weeks for hospital admission — is “a public health emergency.” The same thing is happening in Canada.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

3) To quote from the New York Times article: "ER staff are under mounting pressure to discharge patients as fast as they can: Cynics among them call their job 'moving the meat.' Hospitals are nearing capacity because of aging facilities and economic pressures."

Quebec's ERs are flirting with danger New stats show an alarming spike in emergency room mortality, with lengths of stay that are by far the highest of any province.

2) The purpose of this thread is not to denigrate the dedication and professionalism of ER medical staff, but to draw attention to the impossible conditions under which they now work. Under such circumstances, medical errors like a wrong diagnosis do occur.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

It’s Just a Virus, the E.R. Told Him. Days Later, He Was Dead.

1) The New York Times today has published a devastating and heartbreaking profile of a 20-year-old man who died after being sent home with the wrong diagnosis from a busy ER. Sound familiar?

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/05/w...

Macabre discovery in Montreal is rare, but not unheard of Police are investigating after a detached human head was found on the shore in Rivière des Prairies.

BREAKING: File this under bizarre and morbid: Montreal police found a detached human head along the shoreline of the Rivière des Prairies on Sunday. Pending the outcome of the police investigation, here is something I wrote about this rare phenomenon: 👇

www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

Urgences-santé ordered to pay $450,000 to family of Innu man who died from severe peanut allergy Judge Jeffrey Edwards ruled that the paramedics acted negligently, but he did not conclude Nutin McFarland was the victim of discrimination.

What a tragic story: An 18-year-old Innu man who was attending Dawson College — his whole life ahead of him — died because Urgences-santé paramedics took too long to drive him to a hospital that was only 700 metres away.

www.montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

New ceiling sensors at Montreal General to prevent deadly outbreaks The overhead nodes will be installed to encourage better handwashing by patients, staff and visitors, thus reducing the potential for germs to spread unchecked.

Will an A.I. Big Brother be coming to the Montreal General Hospital? Click on my story below to read more about efforts to reduce deadly superbug outbreaks by deploying "nodes" — but not cameras — in the ceilings of the rooms of patients and in hallways.

www.montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

5) Enfin, mon texte s'appuyait sur des faits et des documents. Je pense avoir été juste et impartial sur une question d'intérêt public qui a suscité de vives passions. Il est évident que cet article ne sera pas le dernier sur ce sujet. Fin de l'enfilade.

Résultats de recherche Page des résultats de recherche

4) Rappelons que l'étudiant était diplômé du Collège Dawson, qui faisait l'objet d'un rapport gouvernemental sur les tensions croissantes entre les étudiants l'année dernière. Vous trouverez ci-dessous le lien vers ce rapport.

www.quebec.ca/resultats-de...

Racist, sexist posts flood group chat for Quebec med school applicants Dawson College launches investigation into offensive Discord posts.

3) En juin, l'étudiant m'a envoyé un courriel disant qu'il était victime d'allégations sans fondement de la part d'un groupe anonyme connu sous le nom de Jewish Clinicians Against Antisemitism. Il a également écrit à propos du site de réseau social Discord.

www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

2) Cet incident soulève des questions quant à la manière dont l'Université de Sherbrooke et le cabinet de la ministre de l'Enseignement supérieur, Pascale Déry, ont traité les plaintes concernant l'étudiant en question.

Exclusive: Université de Sherbrooke med student at centre of Discord storm denies making antisemitic slurs “The environment is so bad and everybody is talking about it,” says a concerned parent

1) EXCLUSIF: Les étudiants en médecine et les parents sont furieux qu'un étudiant qui a fait l'objet de plaintes pour propos racistes, sexistes et antisémites ait été admis à l'Université de Sherbrooke. Voici mon texte ci-dessous. 👇

www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

2) I've been working this story on and off for months, and have based my reporting on the facts. I've striven for balance and fairness about issues that are not only in the public interest but have often inflamed passions. Obviously, this won't be the last story on the subject.

Exclusive: Université de Sherbrooke med student at centre of Discord controversy denies making antisemitic slurs “The environment is so bad and everybody is talking about it,” says concerned parent

1) BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: The Quebec medical student at the centre of a social media storm — against whom allegations have been made that he has fomented hatred against Jews and other minority groups — finally speaks out. Below is my story on the subject.

www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

11) What's more, climate change is predicted to displace 1.2 billion people globally by 2050 as extreme weather and natural disasters become more frequent. What a world we're leaving our children and grandchildren. End of thread.
www.zurich.com/media/magazi...

10) Human-induced climate change — which results largely from the burning of fossil fuels — is not merely an environmental problem. It's fast becoming a problem for people's health. Please click below to read the list of all possible health ailments.
www.canada.ca/en/health-ca...