If our healthcare system can’t offer timely access to life-saving surgery, the very least we can do is be honest with patients who bet their lives on it. Unfortunately, a new study finds that most provinces do not require healthcare providers to inform patients of their estimated wait time in relation to medically safe benchmarks.
SecondStreet.org filed freedom of information requests across Canada and found that eight of 10 provinces have no explicit requirement to inform patients of their expected wait time for surgery and the maximum recommended wait time for that procedure. And while British Columbia and Saskatchewan have some limited requirements and recommendations, discussions with senior healthcare officials (in British Columbia) revealed that they were not even aware of the policy on paper, never mind its implementation in practice.
Simply put, there is an astounding lack of transparent communication with patients regarding their wait time journey. Of course, many physicians and healthcare workers may voluntarily relay this information to their patients — however, this should be standard practice, especially when one considers the long wait times that have become Canada’s shame. Consider that data from the Fraser Institute shows patients routinely wait over half a year for scheduled care, while SecondStreet.org revealed almost 24,000 died while on a wait list for various surgeries and diagnostic scans last year.
So what’s to be done?
In the absence of a large-scale reform that actually tackles wait times, provincial governments could simply enact legislation that ensures patients have a basic right to information about their wait time journey. Specifically, they could consider Debbie’s Law — legislation named for a Manitoba patient who was told she needed life-saving treatment in three weeks, but died after two months without ever receiving a scheduled date at the hospital.
Debbie’s Law would require healthcare providers to disclose two pieces of critical information: their estimated wait time and the maximum recommended benchmark for that procedure. Empowered with this information, patients and their families can gauge whether they have a realistic chance of receiving timely care in the public system or if they should arrange to receive treatment elsewhere — in another province or country.
This is exactly what Debbie’s children have said they would have done had they been told their mother would not receive treatment in time.
Other universal healthcare countries that have struggled with wait times — such as Finland, Norway, and Sweden — understand the importance of transparent patient communication and have already passed similar legislation. In fact, patients in Denmark have the right to go to a private hospital (in the country or abroad) and receive care paid for by public funds (at domestic rates) if treatment is not provided within established maximum timeframes.
Governments clearly understand the importance of informing and protecting consumers when it comes to other sectors — whether it’s requiring auto manufacturers to issue a recall notice or food companies pulling contaminated products off the shelves. However, when it comes to wait times for healthcare, Canadians do not currently have the right to potentially life-saving information.
Debbie’s Law is a simple, relatively costless reform that could potentially save thousands of lives. While discussions about other healthcare reform measures may be polarizing, informing patients about their expected wait in relation to medical benchmarks should truly be a nonpartisan issue that can be tackled today.
Bacchus Barua is research director at SecondStreet.org.
This column was originally published in The Western Standard on March 18, 2026.
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