Report: Thousands of Canadians died due to delayed care during COVID-19

FEE’s Patrick Carroll writes, “A new report commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) looks at  the broader health impacts of COVID-19 in Canada. The November report, called A Struggling System, explores a range of growing problems, from mental health issues to substance abuse and deteriorating social determinants of health. Sadly, the report also confirms a fact that many have suspected since the beginning: that delays in care have led to thousands of preventable deaths.

Doctors have been warning since the beginning of the pandemic that delayed care could lead to thousands of preventable deaths. A new report just proved them right. My latest @feeonline:https://t.co/qlUuDq8Xhc

— Patrick Carroll (@PatrickC1995) December 8, 2021

“Although it is not surprising that more Canadians died in 2020 than in a typical year,” the authors write, “the number of excess deaths was greater than can be explained by COVID-19 alone. While there may be several drivers of these excess deaths, delayed or missed care due to shutdowns of services and lack of sufficient capacity in overburdened health systems may be a contributing factor.”

After analyzing the data, the authors estimated that delayed and missed health care contributed to more than 4,000 excess deaths not related to COVID-19 between August and December 2020. Needless to say, the total number of preventable deaths over the pandemic to date is likely much higher.”

Read the entire column.