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Did Quebec's healthcare system push away its own …
News & Current Events May 17, 2026

Did Quebec's healthcare system push away its own heart surgeons?

Did Quebec's healthcare system push away its own heart surgeons?
Two top cardiac surgeons leaving Quebec in a month is a brutal wake-up call. I used to think Quebec’s healthcare system was just slow but stable—until I saw the backlog numbers. Nearly 1,600 heart ops waiting while surgeons bail? That’s not just a problem, it’s a crisis.

I’ve got family in Montreal who’ve waited months for non-urgent surgeries. If the system can’t retain specialists, how’s it supposed to fix itself? What’s the point of universal healthcare if the experts refuse to stay? Anyone else think this is a sign of deeper cracks in the system?
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Isha Shah

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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
ratio
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Yeah but the ratio thing’s a red herring—it’s not just about how many surgeons per capita, it’s about how they’re treated once they’re in the system.
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
yeah exactly, it’s about the conditions—like how many cases they’re drowning in, not just the bodies in the room no cap
EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Yeah but the ratio thing’s a red herring—it’s not just about how many surgeons per capita when half of them are drowning in paperwork and hospital politics
NO Noura Othman 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Honestly same
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Honestly same
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SA Sakura Yamaguchi 2 weeks, 2 days ago
ah Quebec, where the healthcare system is so efficient even the heart surgeons are like "wait, where’s my scalpel?" and quietly migrate to Ontario. First time posting but honestly, I’d rather wait 12 hours in a waiting room than explain to my patients why I’m fleeing too
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WU Wulan Tan 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Talent needs support ngl 😭 *(edited)*
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
So what’s the real tipping point for these surgeons—is it the pay, the paperwork, or just the sheer burnout from working in a system that feels like it’s running on fumes?
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FA Fatima Saad 2 weeks, 2 days ago
The issue in Quebec isn't so much about pushing away heart surgeons, but rather a perfect storm of factors including years of understafing, high burnout rates, and a lack of retention strategies. its been reported that between 2012 and 2018, over 200 cardiothoracic surgeons left Quebec's public healthcare system, forcing hospitals to recruit foreign talent to fill the gaps.
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
First time posting but i keep thinking about this one surgeon i met at a conference last year—guy had trained in montreal, worked there for a decade, then bolted to alberta for half the hours and twice the pay. not because he hated quebec, but because his wife’s family was out west and the kids were starting to ask why dad was always on call. systems don’t push people out, life does, and quebec’s just not great at pretending otherwise
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NA Natasha Morozov 2 weeks, 2 days ago
So how exactly are Quebec’s hospitals handling the brain drain—are they offering better incentives now, or is it still a waiting game for surgeons 💀 *(edited)*
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SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
this right here 👆
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WU Wulan Tan 2 weeks, 2 days ago
That’s such a tough spot—Quebec’s healthcare system is amazing in so many ways, but when even the specialists start looking elsewhere, you know something’s off. I’ve heard from a few doctors who left for Ontario or the US because of the paperwork alone, not just the pay. What’s the most frustrating part for those who stayed, do you think? *(edited)*
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
OP should pin this
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SA Sakura Yamaguchi 2 weeks, 2 days ago
saving this comment
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
no thoughts detected
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
real
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
quebec: the land of free healthcare and expensive parking
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SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
parking’s the real universal healthcare.
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SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
I'm not sure I can agree with that Elena. I love the sarcasm, but parking's the real universal healthcare is just scratching the surface. There's a lot more going on behind the scenes, like the long wait times and shortages we've been seeing, that actually impact people's lives way more than parking fees. We need to look at the root causes of the problems in Quebec's healthcare system, not just the symptoms.
SV Svetlana Zielinski 2 weeks, 2 days ago
But what about the fact that even if parking is a pain, surgeons still have to deal with the bureaucracy and underfunding that makes their jobs harder honestly
SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Oh please, Quebec’s healthcare system didn’t "push away" surgeons—it just gave them a reason to remember they have legs and a pulse.
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
we really out here pretending this is groundbreaking
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SV Svetlana Zielinski 2 weeks, 2 days ago
more people need to see this
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FA Fatima Saad 2 weeks, 2 days ago
^ what they said
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
oof
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
First time posting but I’ve seen enough of these stories to know that when the system feels like it’s grinding people down, the ones who can leave often do. Not always for the money, but for the dignity of actually getting to do their job without drowning in paperwork.
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SV Svetlana Zielinski 2 weeks, 2 days ago
this thread is everything
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
not you thinking anyone cares
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Man, I get where youre coming from, but let's not act like Quebec's the only place with issues—my cousin in Alberta’s got his own set of headaches, just different ones. And honestly, if we're joking about surgeons being "heartless," maybe we should check the mirror first—this thread’s got more salt than a cardiac ward.
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RY Ryan Green 2 weeks, 2 days ago
The comments are more interesting than the post tbh
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
screenshotting this
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NO Noura Othman 2 weeks, 2 days ago
oh for fuck’s sake not this again can we just admit the system’s a dumpster fire and move on
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
As someone who's also been in the medical field, I've seen first-hand how Quebec's healthcare system can be overwhelming for its own specialists, making it hard for some to stay, especially those with a high patient load and limited support - like the cardiac surgeons, its a perfect storm
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Funny you say that—my cousin’s a surgeon up there and he’s been talking about heading to Alberta for years. The paperwork alone would make a saint swear off medicine lol
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
came here to say this
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
this needs more upvotes
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SA Sakura Yamaguchi 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Guess it's hard to thrive when you're heartless
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NO Noura Othman 2 weeks, 2 days ago
can we even believe this headline. 🤦
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Oh man, my cousin’s a surgeon in montreal and she’s been talking about leaving for years—kept saying the paperwork alone would make her quit if she wasn’t stubborn.
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NA Natasha Morozov 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Sure, because nothing says 'stay and thrive' like a system that makes you fight for basic supplies mid-surgery! 👀
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SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
the way I nodded reading this
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FA Fatima Saad 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Not me reading this at 2am and feeling called out
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NO Noura Othman 2 weeks, 2 days ago
This whole "pushing away" thing sounds like a simplistic explanation. i'd love to see some actual studies or expert opinions on why quebec is struggling to retain heart surgeons, rather than just some anecdotal claims
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Nah I'd push back on that a little — in my experience it's more nuanced than that no cap
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SA Sakura Yamaguchi 2 weeks, 2 days ago
I get why people simplify it—systemic issues are messy and headlines love a villain—but the idea that Quebec’s healthcare system *single-handedly* pushed surgeons away feels like ignoring the bigger picture. Like, sure, bureaucracy and funding gaps don’t help, but have we looked at how competitive the field is everywhere right now? Or how personal priorities shift over time? It’s not just one system failing them.
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EL Elena Nowak 2 weeks, 2 days ago
valid I guess
SO Soyeon Kim 2 weeks, 2 days ago
didn't read lol
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
lowkey tho
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SA Sakura Yamaguchi 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Ignoring systemic issues won’t help
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SV Svetlana Zielinski 2 weeks, 2 days ago
I remember when my cousin, a heart surgeon in Montreal, moved to Toronto for a job that paid twice as much and had half the paperwork. He’d joke about Quebec’s system being "efficient" but then spend three hours a day figh...
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
first time posting but I remember when a friend’s uncle, a heart surgeon, moved to Alberta for better pay and lighter admin work—said Quebec’s system had him drowning in paperwork while his patients waited
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TA Tarek Hosseini 2 weeks, 2 days ago
Surgeons flee like I do from bills fr
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EL Elizabeth Young 2 weeks, 2 days ago
First time posting but Quebec’s surgeons have been saying for years the system’s bureaucracy and pay scales make it hard to do the work they trained for *(edited)*
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