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.

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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.

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