More British Columbians are leaving emergency rooms without being treated by a physician, a new report published on Thursday states.

The report, published by the MEI , recorded nearly 2.6 million emergency room visits in 2024 and found that of these, 142,961 visits ended with a patient leaving before receiving treatment.

Across Canada, over 1.2 million patients left emergency rooms untreated last year, according to the MEI.

“These patients are not leaving because they feel better, but because the system is failing them,” Emmanuelle B. Faubert, economist at the MEI and author of the report, said in a release.

“Thousands of British Columbians are being denied access to care each year.”

In B.C., the MEI found that the ratio of patients leaving emergency rooms without being treated ha

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