Injured Japanese Man Dies After 14 Hospitals Refuse to Admit Him

Associated Press ^ | Feb. 4, 2009

[XenaLee]

I wouldn’t worry about it. I have a feeling that by the time most even get close to that age, under the socialist, tanked-economy conditions the DemocRats will have taken the country, nobody’s gonna want to live that long anyway.

[sushiman]

bfl

[SuziQ]

So they're short on doctors, huh? Could be because they are in negative populaton growth in Japan, and those who ARE there are aging quickly. I wonder if they'll allow doctors and nurses from other countries to come into Japan and practice medicine.

Poor man; that was just absolute irresponsibility, and even though the story made it sound like it was the paramedics' fault, they can't just waltz into any hospital. They have to contact the hospital in advance, and if the hospital refuses admission to the patient, they have to find another hospital.

I had to go to the ER last July in Worcester MA. I went to St. Vincent's, and was taken back right away, because I was in A-Fib, and my blood pressure was low, but I sat on a gurney, in the hallway for 7 hours, because the other big hospital in town, UMass Medical, had closed their ER doors, because they were full, and wouldn't take anyone else, so ALL of the other emergency cases were being sent to St. V's, which doesn't practice 'diversion'. Thankfully, my case wasn't serious; I'd had a history of A-Fib, because I had a 'wiring problem', but it was certainly annoying, and not the fault of the hospital or its staff.