Considering Japan’s wealth and technology, the state of medical care is not as impressive as one might think. In fact, it could be said their overall health care system is in a crisis. Recently, when a 69-year-old man was struck by a motorcycle while riding his bicycle, the responding ambulance had to contact 15 hospitals before finding one who would admit the injured man. Tragically, he died from hemorrhagic shock once admitted. According to Yahoo News:
More than 14,000 emergency patients were rejected at least three times by Japanese hospitals before getting treatment in 2007, according to the latest government survey. In the worst case, a woman in her 70s with a breathing problem was rejected 49 times in Tokyo.
They are a real canary in the coal mine as their demographics are similar to what other first world nations will be and are beginning to face. Declining birth rates and a massive baby boom generation will have a similar effect on a lot of other health care systems.
yep. we’re next. prepare to make bribes in order to get the care you need.
Ride your bike, stay healthy… just don’t get hit!
We have immigration to stop our demographics from aging; they don’t. Did you think we had immigration from the goodness of our hearts?
The headline of this post is a bit misleading and sensationalized. You give the impression the man was dying and went from one hospital to the next, when the story is actually a bit different.
It’s sad, no matter what; why feel the need to turn it into an agenda-driven post?
“After getting struck by a motorcycle, an elderly Japanese man with head injuries waited in an ambulance as paramedics phoned 14 hospitals, each refusing to treat him.”
The headline is not misleading or sensationalized. It’s accurate, and just plain sad.