Canadian family drives home from Florida with dead body to avoid US health care costs, reports say

(Photo by S. Badz/Getty Images)

FOX NEWS - A Canadian family decided to keep driving when its 87-year-old patriarch died in the backseat of their car while returning home from a Florida vacation last month to avoid paying for U.S. health care, reports said.

When Fernand Drapeau’s wife and son reached the U.S.-Canada border on March 31, authorities stopped and searched the car. Inside they found Drapeau, who appeared to have died from a heart attack at least a day before arriving at the border, the Vancouver Sun reported.

The family cited the high cost of U.S. health care, plus the cost of shipping the body back to Quebec as the reason for not stopping at a hospital, CTV News reported.

Border officials said it was the first time that such an incident has occurred.

No charges have yet been filed in the case. Authorities are continuing to investigate.

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