30-hospital denial fatal to woman

Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007

Ambulance crew spent two hours finding care for 89-year-old

Compiled from AP, Kyodo

An 89-year-old woman in Osaka Prefecture died after an ambulance crew spent two hours trying 30 hospitals before later finding one that would accept her for treatment, officials said Friday.

The woman's family called an ambulance early Tuesday morning after she started vomiting and suffering diarrhea the previous evening, said Hideto Matsumoto, a fire official in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture.

The ambulance crew and local fire department contacted 30 hospitals before one finally said it could admit her, Matsumoto said — about two hours after her family had called for an ambulance, he said.

The woman's heart had already stopped when she was taken to Osaka Minami Medical Center in the city of Kawachinagano. She was resuscitated at the hospital but died Wednesday, according to hospital official Hiroshi Tone, who refused to disclose the woman's name or cause of death, citing privacy reasons.

Matsumoto said the other hospitals, including those in the cities of Osaka and Sakai, rejected the woman, saying their hospitals were full or their doctors were not immediately available to treat her.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said it is extremely rare for a patient to be denied emergency treatment by as many as 30 hospitals.

However, similar cases have taken place in Hyogo and Fukushima prefectures. Last year, a pregnant woman in Nara Prefecture died after being refused admission by about 20 hospitals that said they were full.

The latest case underscores Japan's health-care woes, in part created by a shortage of doctors in the country's rapidly aging society. Critics say long working hours and a government policy change several years ago to keep the number of doctors down are to blame.

"Behind the recurrence of such problems in various parts of Japan is the chronic shortage of doctors, as well as the fact that regional networks among medical institutions are not functioning," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe told a news conference Friday.

Japan Times