Family drove home to Canada with dad’s body to avoid U.S. hospitals, officials say

An 87-year-old man’s family drove home to Canada from a Florida vacation with his body in the back seat to avoid U.S. health-care costs and red tape, CTV News reports.

Canadian border control officials at Hemmingford, Quebec, on the New York border, discovered the body at 2:30 a.m. March 31, The Toronto Sun reported.

The man’s wife and his 60-year-old son told officials he’d died on their way home from Florida, and they’d decided to keep going to their home near Montreal to avoid the cost and hassle of going to a U.S. hospital, the National Post reported.

Paramedics said the man, who appeared to have “died of a heart attack,” had been dead “for at least two days,” WCAX reported.

“This is never seen,” said Pierre Fortin, president of the Customs and Immigration Union, the Journal de Montreal reported.

“The case remains under investigation,” NYup.com reported.

This story was originally published April 7, 2019 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Family drove home to Canada with dad’s body to avoid U.S. hospitals, officials say."