TOKYO -- A 95-year-old woman died in Tokyo earlier this month after 11 hospitals refused to admit her for emergency treatment, Tokyo Fire Department officials said Wednesday.
After she suffered chest pains at her home in Kiyose, Tokyo, on the evening of Jan. 8, her son, 50, called an ambulance. Paramedics arrived in three minutes, but took 38 minutes to find a hospital that would accept her. She died there following treatment, they said. Among the reasons the 11 hospitals turned her down were overcrowding, they said.
------------------------
Perhaps, they really took notice of her AGE! Wonder if it would be different if she was a young sport star. Has society come up with a "USE BY DATE" for branding the elderly.
January 25, 2008
95-year-Old Woman Dies After 11 Hospitals Refuse Admission
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Right now we have a severe doctor shortage in Japan, many emergency units are overworked and understaffed.
We've had several cases of people, of all ages, not being able to find a place for an ambulance to take them. It's a terrible situation due in part to government policies that backfired, surrounding numbers of medical students the universities were allowed to take in (limiting numbers was somehow supposed to make better doctors) the medical board exams and the way interns are assigned to facilities.
These problems seem to be most pressing in parts of Tokyo and Osaka. The government is taking steps to alleviate the problem. It's awful, but it is not age-related.
Post a Comment