I Watched Them Leave, One by One:

“New Brunswick's Failing HealthCare System"

Part One

Six Hours in the ER: A Patient's Despair

October 1, 2025

I was having chest pains while I was in Shediac, so I returned to Moncton because the pain wasn't going away. I decided to go to the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital emergency department to have my heart checked. I had quadruple bypass surgery in January 2024, so caution is always the way to go.

Normally, I would go to The Moncton Hospital—where all my records are kept—but Moncton has two hospitals: The Moncton Hospital (English) and the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont Hospital (French). My cardiologist at The Moncton Hospital wasn't following up with me after my bypass surgery, so my family doctor referred me to the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital cardiology unit.

When I arrived, the ER was crowded and I knew I was in for a long wait. Normally, with cardiac symptoms, they check you quickly. After a while, my name was called and I was taken to an examination room. The doctor spoke with me, took my health history, and went over the issue that brought me there.

At first, I felt good—I was inside the ER, lying down, being treated. They took blood samples, and I felt optimistic about getting treatment and heading home. Then a nurse came in and sent me back to the waiting room. How demoralizing.

The waiting room felt like a lost third-world zone of despair—people desperate for help, but none coming. One of the blood tests I'd had required a follow-up test in two to three hours, but nobody told me that. So I just sat there, not sure what I was waiting for. No CT scan, no ultrasound—near the end of my wait, I wasn't sure what I was waiting for at all.

"Most people can read the room," and the way I read this room, I wasn't going any further in the testing part. After six hours, I'd had enough. You would think that when you tell them you are leaving, they would try to talk you into waiting. No, that doesn't happen in the Moncton Hospital or George Dumont Hospital. They happily cut your wristband off, happy that the emergency room numbers are down by one.

As in most ER visits I have had, especially the longer ones, I have watched multiple untreated people leave. I can never adequately describe the despair I felt in that ER. All hope for these people seemed lost.

I will never visit the Georges-L.-Dumont Emergency Department again.

Part Two

Thirteen Hours in the ER: The Appendicitis Ordeal

October 1, 2025

This is what you stare at for 13 hours, praying you will be called to enter through them.

October 1, 2025 - 6:30 AM (Wednesday)

Wednesday morning I started getting pain in my mid-abdomen. It continually got worse. By 10:00 PM it had eased off enough that I was able to go to sleep. I woke up at 3:00 AM with a very sharp pain in my lower right side (appendicitis) that wasn't going away.

At 7:00 AM I went to the hospital by ambulance. When I got there they didn't check me out; they just sent me to the waiting room. There is no way I would have sat there for 6-8 hours (that's an optimistic estimate) waiting to be seen. I left. Unacceptable care at the Moncton Hospital emergency department.

October 1, 2025 - 6:30 PM (Wednesday)

The pain is worse now. I have to make a decision about returning to the ER. After many issues with previous ER visits, I am at the point now that I consider if it is life or death before going to the ER. In this case I felt it was—a burst appendix can kill you.

I arrived at the ER at 7:30 PM. The ER was full. A few people were called in to be looked at but that stopped by 8:30-9:00 PM (note shift change is at 7:30). People continued to come in: parents with babies, injured legs, and other ailments. I was offered 2 Tylenol but that was really an insult, considering the pain I was in.

October 2, 2025 - 4:00 AM (Thursday)

After several attempts to get some medication, I was given a shot of pain meds at 4:00 AM. I want to point out that all the staff in the ER were great and made an unbearable situation a little better.

During the duration of my 13.5-hour wait, the waiting room was slowly emptying out. This should be good news—people being seen and going home—but no, these were patients who couldn't wait any longer. There were around 10 or probably more people that walked out. I don't have the official number. Some left very angry at not being seen, using words that can't be used in the public realm.

Instead of fixing the ER wait time, the hospitals have installed vending machines for drinks and snacks. There is also a phone recharging station. People wait so long their phones die. They also check your vitals every two hours to cover any liability from people dying. Unfortunately, that happens.

October 2, 2025 - 7:30 AM (Thursday)

So shift change comes at 7:30 AM. I have my 12 hours in. I'm 72 and did not take any of my medications, such as heart medications, blood thinners, etc. Also I have been awake all night. I'm usually in bed by 9:00 PM.

While two Patient Care Assistants were checking everyone's vitals on a two-hour basis, they discovered my heart rate had increased considerably. Being concerned, the night shift nurse stopped by and told me she had bumped me up to highest priority, so once the doctors roll in, things should get moving. To offer me comfort, they set me up on a recliner with a blanket and a pillow in the hallway outside of the emergency waiting room.

It's 8:00 AM. I am in my recliner and have a massive pain in my chest—scary pain. My daughter-in-law who works at the hospital rushed to the ER nursing station and told them, but nobody came. Another employee was walking by and I asked them to get help. This happened twice. Finally a nurse came out to check. Thankfully my heart settled down, but I was scared. I think you have to literally fall over to trigger a code blue.

It's 9:00 AM when I am called in and put in an ER room. I should mention that blood and urine samples were taken sometime during my wait.

I'm finally in an ER treatment room. An ECG was done and then the doctor came in. Initially he didn't think it was my appendix; he thought it was a kink that would slowly work its way out. I was sent back to the waiting area, my recliner. On the way out the nurse stopped me and said the doctor was sending me for an x-ray. He must have looked at the blood tests. I'm not sure what made him order the CT test.

In a while a porter came to get me with a wheelchair. The x-ray was a CT scan contrasted with dye. After a while the doctor came and told me, "You are 100% correct, it is appendicitis." I'm glad I was not sent home with pain killers to possibly burst appendix. Appendicitis requires emergency surgery. He may have checked my blood work and urine test while preparing me to be discharged.

At 11:30 AM I was given a room in the ER department. After such a long wait I was finally able to lay down, and it felt good. I was hooked up to a saline drip (I think saline—it was to hydrate me) and an anti-bacterial drip, also the usual monitors. It was confirmed that I was being admitted for emergency surgery that could be done during the day but not later than the evening. They were looking for a room for me, in a full hospital.

The ER rooms are in a square shape, common for ER rooms I think. I was in the end room so I could see up the right hallway a bit. There were gurneys that lined the hallway with two paramedics per gurney. I actually witnessed a paramedic shift change, which is really crazy.

So if you come in by ambulance there are some different options for intake:

1. Critical, need life-saving care

2. Urgent, a doctor review is required (paramedics must wait with patient)

3. We don't know what's wrong with you, we will send you to the waiting room

If you are a walk-in patient, you are competing with all these ambulatory patients that are lined up in the hallway. Paramedics can't leave until their patient gets a room. A paramedic can spend a full shift in the ER, instead of being out taking calls, saving lives.

October 2, 2025 - 4:00 PM (Thursday)

At 4:00 PM they had a room for me in pediatrics—yes, a children's ward. A room was a room, a comfortable bed, not a stretcher, and I had the room to myself. The staff called me their big kid. I had my intake and was all set up and waiting for surgery. There would be no pre-alert; they would just come and get me for my surgery.

They came for me around 7:15. I was very nervous, even more so than my quadruple bypass surgery in January 2024. There was a greater explanation of the risks for this operation than my quad bypass, but not having the surgery was a greater risk. Fortunately it all went well and I was back in my room by 10:15. The surgery group was awesome.

I was able to fall asleep with many intermittent wakings.

October 3, 2025 - 5:00 AM (Friday)

Friday morning I was up by 5:00 AM after a short restless sleep. I felt pretty good—still pain of course—but glad the ER saga was behind me. Breakfast came at 7:30 AM, and it wasn't bad. I hadn't eaten anything since Tuesday's supper. I saw the surgeon and everything went well and she released me. I was home by 9:30 AM.

I am recuperating at home as I write this. Thankfully in the end things worked out well for me. It could have been a lot different. I have witnessed a code blue in an emergency department in New Brunswick. That should never happen.

Part Three

Twenty-Four Hours in the ER: The Follow-Up Crisis

October 7, 2025 - 2:00 PM (Monday)

I started getting sporadic pain in my right side.

October 8-11, 2025

I continued getting sporadic pain in my right side.

October 12-15, 2025

Abdominal pain became steady, 8 out of 10.

October 13, 2025 - 8:00 AM (Wednesday)

I woke up Wednesday morning with intense pain where my appendix had been. I laid down on the couch hoping it would go away. I had no pain medication to help.

October 13, 2025 - 2:00 PM (Wednesday)

The decision was made. At 2 PM I went to the ER. My epic 24-hour journey had begun.

I arrived and was triaged. All my symptoms were explained, prescription list given, and surgeon's release papers from my surgery given to the triage nurse. That was it. The wait started.

Here are some of my observations while waiting.

October 13, 2025 - 11:00 PM (Wednesday)

There was an elderly woman that was waiting hours with high blood pressure. I would guess that she was in her 80s. Her blood pressure was as high as 198/103—clearly a medical emergency—but she still stayed in the waiting room. After way too many hours of waiting, she left. I really hope she didn't die in her sleep at home.

October 13, 2025 - 11:30 PM (Wednesday)

There is a "quiet place" in the back corner of the ER. They want people to go there if they are having flu and/or cold symptoms, so they aren't mingling with the other patients. A younger man came in, registered, and headed to the back corner. It looks like he had his life possessions in multiple backpacks and bags. He sat there for a while, and then headed to the washroom. He was in there for quite a bit, and then came out, not very steady on his feet. He slumped into his chair then leaned with his head over his knees and stopped moving.I alerted one of the attendants that were taking patients' vitals that I thought this person might have overdosed, but they didn't check up on him and he stated this man was a regular. This is a room full of families, some with children.

Later on, he went in and spent a long time in the washroom. When he was done in there the washroom was put "out of order". We were now down to one washroom.

October 14, 2025 - 1:00 AM (Thursday)

A young man accompanied by his mother has a boil on his tailbone—very painful as you can imagine. They waited for at least 22 hours. Finally they were able to speak to the triage nurse. She lanced his boil and bandaged it for him. He felt much better but they shouldn't have had to wait so long. They left without seeing a doctor.

October 14, 2025 - 3:00 AM (Thursday)

A woman and her husband waited 23 hours. She was crying a lot. She ended up leaving with just a sling on her arm. What a waste of time for these people.

Another woman spilled bacon grease on her hand. She had it bandaged, but she spent the night in pain. I think most of us know how a pain from a burn feels.

October 14, 2025 - 4:00 AM (Thursday)

One woman was crying in pain for a long time. They wouldn't give her any pain meds. They finally came out and offered her 3 regular tylenol after suffering most of the night. That is so insulting. I could say more but will choose my words carefully.

These stories of people suffering played out all night, as well as dealing with my own pain using only tylenol.

The Evening - Night Shift

At 7:30 PM, sometimes sooner, the ER goes to two doctors. They are covering two sides of the ER—acute and non-acute—as well as dealing with the steady flow of ambulances. The ER is still full, at times there was standing room only.

At midnight, there is one doctor on duty. That's it. Very few people were called during the day and by 8:00 PM, nobody else was called. The ER was still full. After many hours of waiting, one by one and two by two, people left—no diagnoses, no pain relief, just beat and frustrated. Over the night, chairs started to open up. There were less of us, but no one had been called.

October 14, 2025 - 7:00 AM (Thursday)

Now a person from the ER Department came out and started calling names. These were the names of all the people that had been triaged from the previous day/evening/overnight. There were at least 15 people that were listed that never responded. They had given up and gone home.

This is how people die!

October 14, 2025 - 7:30 AM (Thursday)

New shift has started. Things should get rolling, but nothing happens. One name is called, that's it.

More hours and I am finally sent for bloodwork and a CT with dye scan. That takes time for results. These tests should have been ordered hours ago. Finally they are done, and I'm able to meet with my surgeon. More testing is required but I am finally able to go home.

I can't explain the depth of pain and lost hope on my fellow ER all-nighters' faces.

A Note on Healthcare Politics

Our Premier, Susan Holt, did a press conference to promote her party's (Liberal) solution to NB's broken healthcare system. It's a glossy joke that won't help repair the damage done by er party and previous parties. Our whole broken healthcare system has been broken and ripped apart by all New Brunswick governments—Liberal as well as Conservative—for many decades.

Please join our group, let's make a difference NB Broken HealthCare

09/26/2025

Watch now.

In this video, I discuss the dire state of our healthcare system in New Brunswick and across Canada, highlighting that 69% of our budget goes to wages and administration with little value added. Despite decades of warning signs like overcrowded ERs and long wait times, we continue to pour millions into reports and studies without implementing effective solutions. I propose a shift to activity-based funding for hospitals, where financial support follows the care provided, encouraging efficiency and better patient outcomes. Countries like Germany and Australia have successfully adopted this model, leading to real improvements in accountability and care. I urge viewers to consider this solution and advocate for change in our healthcare funding approach.

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Our Health Care System: Neglected at our Expense

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Isabelle Leblanc

Our Health Care System: Neglected at our Expense

Pitiful is the only word that comes to mind. For 8 months I was experiencing chest pains, heart palpitations, episodes of derealization and confusion, sudden weaknesses and migraines. Between visits at the George Dumont emergency room and my family doctor, I felt completely defeated. I’m 33-years old with a healthy lifestyle looking and begging for answers as to what is going on with my body.

I’m waiting months to over a year for tests, scans and consultations with specialists, how is this acceptable? What needs to happen for us to finally receive proper care? What is our health care system waiting for to happen to make the changes it needs and to be prioritized? Do we need to be walking on the fine line between life and death to finally be heard, seen and taken care of? I always knew our health care system was suffering, but never realized to what extent this was true until I was walking on that fine line.

On Saturday, February 22nd, I went to the George Dumont Hospital with both my left arm and leg feeling numb and heavy. I panicked thinking I was having a stroke and walked into a full Emergency Room that was overflowing into the hallways. I hear one woman tell another “ I’ve been here since 6:00pm last night.” We were going into the evening hours of Saturday.

How does one wait over 24 hours to be seen by a doctor. How is this possible? They call my name and I’m brought in a room close to the nurse’s station and wait to see the doctor. While I’m rubbing my left arm and leg waiting and hoping to feel any sensation, I can hear all the conversations being had in the nurse’s station. I was surprised to hear their topics of conversations had nothing to do with the overflowing amount of patients waiting to be seen. Instead I heard all about their upcoming and recent vacations, weekend plans and staff gossip. The irony to see the lack of sense of urgency in an emergency room.

My frustration starts to grow as an hour passes without seeing or speaking to anyone. The doctor comes in and tells me I’ll be getting a CT Scan, blood work and an EKG, which I assume are routine for the symptoms I was feeling. I also mentioned the heart palpitations and chest pains I had been experiencing the months prior. I’m sent over to a chair to get an EKG where I have a clear view of the trauma section next to the emergency section. I noticed the doctor I had just spoken to, was also covering the trauma section.

I’m told to head to the radiology department for my CT Scan where I walked past 8-10 stretchers with more people waiting to be seen. How is it humanly possible for one doctor to be properly taking care of all these people? I cannot emphasize the word PROPERLY enough! All of my tests are done and the doctor walks in to tell me all my tests

came back normal.

Logically I’m thinking what are the next steps to find out what’s going on in my body. No other steps were taken but a consultation sent to see a neurologist, which to my surprise, has an average wait time of a year and a half. As I leave I’m told for the 100th time; “Anxiety comes out in different shapes and forms.” Anxiety and other mental health issues have become a wide blanket and easy diagnosis for doctors to give their patients. People should be treated as individuals and given the proper time to have their symptoms assessed, not generalized with the population because it’s an easier, quicker route to take.

Have health care professionals completely lost their humanity or are they overworked in an environment that is constantly understaffed? I strongly believe the answer is both, but which one of those two statements came first? Is our system being lead by ignorance and forcing doctors to work with unrealistic expectations or have health care professionals lost hope in our system as much as we have?

For months, my symptoms were worsening and my hope for answers was vanishing. Every chest pain, sudden weakness and intense episode of confusion became more terrifying. I felt completely alone to fight for myself, I had no faith left.

On Thursday, April 24th, my life took a turn. I had a sharp pain in my chest that took the air out of my lungs. I debated wasting my time going to the hospital because I had been dismissed so many times before and I didn’t imagine it being any different this time. I called 811 for some guidance and they called the ambulance. A heart attack at the age of 33 is not what I expected. I’m brought into the George Dumont filled with fear.

The doctor is reading my EKG report and I’m looking for any hints on her face as to what was going to happen next. I couldn’t catch my words before they left my mouth: “Am I going to die?” Her eyebrows rose reading the report. “Well your EKG doesn’t look good.” Thankfully the amount of medication I was on made me completely numb to her answer. I’m told I’m being transferred to the Saint John Regional Hospital and panic sets in. Adrenaline kicks in and my mind starts to race and think of the worst case scenarios as to how this is going to end for me.

I arrive at the Saint John Regional Hospital and immediately I’m being looked after. They ran a few tests but couldn’t find the answer as to why I was still in pain, so they kept digging and doing more tests, something I was not used to and incredibly grateful for. They did an echocardiogram and found the problem;

Atrial Myxomas. I had 3-4 “golf-ball-sized” tumours in my heart and one of them shattered and a piece lodged into one of my arteries causing the heart attack. I needed open heart surgery. I barely had time to process what was happening. I remember signing a consent form thinking how very possible this could be the end for me.

Could this have all been prevented? Why was I never given an echocardiogram before? Cost? Lack of resources and staff? I didn’t fit the statistics? Or all of the above?

Why did I have to endure the most traumatic experience of my life to finally have answers? Why did my situation have to become so extreme before I was properly taken care of. Why did I fall through the cracks of our neglected system and almost lose my life?

I am here today and able to write this letter because of Dr. Saurabh Gupta, Dr. David Bewick and their entire team at the Cardiology Department at the Saint John Regional Hospital. I cannot praise them enough for their work, dedication and the constant attentive care I was given while recovering in their department. They gave me a second chance at life and I am forever grateful for them.

No thanks are given to our health care system because it took me surviving the most traumatic experience of my life to finally have the answers and care I always deserved. My frustration would say our system is an absolute shame but throughout my experience, my frustration has turned into anger and would call it a disgrace. Save your apologies, I don’t want them, I want change.

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Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) Investigates: Tens of Thousands Leave N.B. ERs Without Care

09/25/2025

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Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) Investigates: Tens of Thousands Leave N.B. ERs Without Care

More than 41,000 patients walked out of Horizon Health Network emergency rooms in 2024–25 without ever being treated, according to a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI). That’s 12.9% of all ER visits — nearly double the national average of 7.8%.

New Brunswick now ranks third-worst in the country for ER “walkouts,” behind only P.E.I. and Manitoba. Ontario had the lowest at under 5%.

The report paints a disturbing picture of a system that’s supposed to provide urgent care but is failing thousands each year.

Key Findings

Horizon Health Network:
- 320,000 ER visits in 2024.
- 41,236 patients left untreated (12.9%).
- Most were “semi-urgent” or “non-urgent” cases — cuts, dressing changes, prescription renewals.
Vitalité Health Network:
- Nearly 22,000 walkouts in 2024.
- 11.5% of all ER visits — up from 19,000 the year before.
Trend:
- Walkout rates rising: 9.5% (2021), 12% (2022), 12.9% (2024).
- Across Canada: 1.2 million walkouts in 2024 — up 36% since 2019.

Why Patients Are Leaving

Long waits and overcrowding.
Hospital beds filled with “alternate level of care” (ALC) patients — people waiting for long-term care placements.
- Horizon reports 635 ALC patients occupying beds this year (target: 330).
Many New Brunswickers lack family doctors and turn to ERs instead.

What Experts Say

MEI: “These patients are not leaving because they feel better, but because the system is failing them.”
Horizon VP Greg Doiron: “Every patient who leaves without care is someone who needed care. That’s unacceptable.”
Vitalité CEO: Admits data gaps but says monitoring is ongoing.

Proposed Solutions

The MEI recommends more “upstream care” options to take pressure off ERs, including:

Nurse practitioner–led clinics.
Expanded pharmacist roles.
Independent urgent-care centres (French model).

Bottom Line

New Brunswickers are walking out of ERs at record levels — not because they want to, but because the system is stretched beyond its limits. Without major reforms in primary care and hospital management, this crisis will only deepen.

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Let's start spending all NB HealthCare Dollars, on HealthCare!

09/24/2025

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The New Brunswick Health Council (NBHC) was created under statute and came into force on September 1, 2008. Its legislated mandate is twofold: to report publicly on provincial health system performance and to engage citizens in improving health service quality.

The NBHC produces public report cards, runs province-wide citizen and student surveys, and submits recommendations to the Minister of Health. In recent audited accounts the Council’s operations have been funded primarily by the Department of Health (actual grants reported at ~$2.39M in 2023–24 and ~$2.67M in 2024–25).

The NBHC’s annual reports (which include audited financial statements) provide the clearest source for financial and governance details and are linked below.

New Brunswick Health Council.docx

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