Health & Medicine
25 Hospitals Turn Down Man: Japan's Medical Services Short Staffed
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Mar 06, 2013 03:34 PM EST
Japan may not be the best place to go when you're having medical issues, especially due to overcrowded hospital room and staff shortages.
According to recent reports, a 75-year old Japanese man lost his life after refused entry to not just one but a whopping 25 area hospitals 36 times over a period of two hours.
The unidentified man from Kuki, north of Tokyo, called an ambulance to take him to an emergency room when he tarte3d having difficulty breathing and experienced severe chest pains back in January, according to the Japan Daily Press.
And though paramedics repeatedly attempted to take him from hospital to hospital, they were repeatedly turned away due to both bed and staff shortages.
By the time the ambulance actually got him to the hospital, in nearby Ibaraki prefecture, he was pronounced dead on arrival shortly thereafter.
Reports show that his death has not yet been confirmed. A paramedic, speaking to the Jiji Press, said they had never experienced someone being turned away so many times on a single occasion.
As Japan's healthcare system is increasingly burdened by an aging population as people live longer and the birth rate drops, it's a wonder what this could mean for other elderly with health concerns that will surely stem in the future.
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First Posted: Mar 06, 2013 03:34 PM EST
Japan may not be the best place to go when you're having medical issues, especially due to overcrowded hospital room and staff shortages.
According to recent reports, a 75-year old Japanese man lost his life after refused entry to not just one but a whopping 25 area hospitals 36 times over a period of two hours.
The unidentified man from Kuki, north of Tokyo, called an ambulance to take him to an emergency room when he tarte3d having difficulty breathing and experienced severe chest pains back in January, according to the Japan Daily Press.
And though paramedics repeatedly attempted to take him from hospital to hospital, they were repeatedly turned away due to both bed and staff shortages.
By the time the ambulance actually got him to the hospital, in nearby Ibaraki prefecture, he was pronounced dead on arrival shortly thereafter.
Reports show that his death has not yet been confirmed. A paramedic, speaking to the Jiji Press, said they had never experienced someone being turned away so many times on a single occasion.
As Japan's healthcare system is increasingly burdened by an aging population as people live longer and the birth rate drops, it's a wonder what this could mean for other elderly with health concerns that will surely stem in the future.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone