A young Canadian writer and activist died after being told he wasn’t “dying” and made to wait 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.
The post has since garnered 13.1 million views. In the comments, he noted that the hospital conducted an electrocardiogram and took his blood pressure but “didn’t even do any blood work or x-rays,” though he speculated that they would have had he waited the “18 hours more” to be seen by a doctor.
“It was ECG and BP only, that was enough for them to basically triage me as ‘he can wait indefinitely’ level,” Burgoyne said in his post about the visit.
His comments sparked a conversation about the quality of Canada’s “free” healthcare system, with many sharing similar stories of being sent home or being made to wait despite being in life-threatening conditions.
One post detailed an incident where a man had been turned away from the hospital after waiting six hours in the emergency room due to shortness of breath. The man was allegedly sent home with antibiotics after being diagnosed with pneumonia, only for him to return to the hospital after passing out to be later diagnosed with a blocked artery.
Burgoyne, a gay man, was an advocate for women’s and parents’ rights and recently wrote an opinion piece about the US election on how President-elect Donald Trump’s victory benefitted not just America but the world.
He had over 9,500 followers on X, and many conservative and libertarian voices in the US and Canada followed or worked with Burgoyne.
His friend, a Substack writer with the handle “Holly Mathnerd” wrote a tribute to him on Substack.
“Publicly, he was best known on Twitter as a brave voice against the excesses of gender ideology, particularly the targeting of childhood innocence. He was deeply proud to speak up on this issue, a cause he embraced with passion and ferocity,” the Holly MathNerd wrote.
She reported that some had asked her if the aneurysm could be linked to the COVID vaccines, to which she said he had told her that he had been vaccinated and boosted a total of four times. However, she was careful not to assume a link to the shots.
According to the tribute, Burgoyne was engaged and was living successfully as a recovered addict after six years of sobriety.
Adam Zivo, a drug policy advocate and a National Post columnist, mourned his loss on X, noting Burgoyn as a “thoughtful and judicious voice” and remarking on his good character.
Others, including Andy Ngo, a journalist known for his work reporting on Antifa, mourned his passing too. He remarked on his contribution to fighting for what he felt to be right, regardless of how popular those beliefs were viewed.
In an obituary for Burgoyne, the family requests donations to be made in Burgoyne’s name to the Canadian Assembly of Narcotics Anonymous.
Burgoyne’s death came days before the Fraser Institute released a recent study which found Canada has hit a record high 30-week wait time on average. The study used an annual survey of specialists who noted their patients’ wait times between a general practitioner referral and receiving treatment from a specialist.
True North was unable to confirm which hospital Burgoyne visited the night before his post and subsequent death.