Why You Shouldn’t Be Happy to Hear “We are on our way to the hospital now.”

Posted by Bill Belew on January 7th, 2008 in Japan | No Comments

It happens all the time in Japan! It's scary.

It happens because, apparently,the emergency-room system is different from
the USA.

There seem to be only designated Emergency hospitals.

So the ambulance drivers (who may or may not be trained paramedics – it's case by case) have to literally call hospitals as they drive, to find a hospital that is not too busy.

The results -

———
Man dies after 5 hospitals refuse him
01/05/2008

——
Japanese Woman Dies After 30 Hospitals Refuse Care
Friday, December 28, 2007

——
Miscarriage prompts Japan pledge

Thursday, 30 August 2007, 10:49 GMT 11:49 UK
"woman in labour was turned away by eight hospitals"
BBC News, Tokyo

———

Comatose woman in labor rejected by 18 hospitals dies
Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006

Next time you have an accident in Japan, be sure it's near a hospital that will let you in, eh?


 

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  1. ShaneS says

    January 7, 2008

    What a timely post…I have been reading these articles too and am about to embark on a second period of living in Japan. I was just telling my DH that I’m not so sure a medical emergency in Japan would be too good for our health….great job pulling theses articles together into a post!