Understaffed Japanese Hospitals Turn Away Dying Man
Japan’s overcrowded, understaffed hospitals are in danger – and so are the people who rely on those hospitals when they need emergency medical care. An elderly Japanese man who sustained head injuries after being struck by a motorcycle waited ninety minutes in an ambulance – while paramedics phoned fourteen different Tokyo hospitals, trying to find a hospital that would accept the man for treatment. All the hospitals refused to admit the injured man, saying they lacked the equipment and staff needed to treat him. The paramedics arrived at the accident site just a few minutes after the 69-year-old man was injured, but ninety minutes and fourteen hospitals later, the man died just a short time after paramedics finally located a hospital that would accept him for treatment. The man died from the shock caused by the loss of a large amount of blood – a condition which the man might have survived if he had received treatment earlier.
Stretching the Health Care System
This incident is only the latest in a list of recent cases occurring in Japan, where the emergency healthcare system is stretched thin due to staff shortages and the medical needs of an aging population. According to Japanese Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, the rapidly increasing number of elderly patients is a large part of the problem, with hospitals so full that there just isn’t room for emergency patients. While this particular incident clearly highlights the problems for Japan’s overburdened healthcare system, it is by no means an isolated occurrence. In 2007, more than fourteen thousand emergency patients were rejected three or more times by overcrowded hospitals before finally receiving treatment. The worst case so far was that of a woman who was rejected 49 times before finally receiving emergency treatment for breathing difficulties. Another high profile case, that of a pregnant woman who died eight days after being refused admission by nineteen different hospitals, finally prompted the government to establish a panel to investigate the issue.
What Tokyo is Doing to Change Things
Following the most recent incident, the city of Tokyo issued a directive that requires paramedics to coordinate with emergency call centers so that emergency patients can be accepted to a hospital within fifteen minutes. However, this doesn’t solve the most pressing problem of hospital overcrowding. Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe has urged that the government develop a community support system to reduce the burden placed on hospitals. The Japanese government has also announced plans to improve coordination between hospitals and the emergency support system, and to increase doctor numbers in understaffed hospitals.
photo credit: udono
Tags: health care, heath care system, hospital care, senior coverage, Tokyo health care
April 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am
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