Pregnant woman refused by 18 hospitals for treatment, later dies

[canman]

This kind of story really galls me. What kind of Mickey Mouse medical systme do they have here in Japan? This poor woman has an aneurysm, while in child birth and no hosptial will take her. They should all be charged with murder. And this is not the first time that this kind of story has surfaced. I remember two years ago in Morioka, a young boy died in a similar fashion. If I remember correctly he was first diagnosed with a cold but it turned out to be meningitus and none of the hospitals in the area said they could treat him, so they kept turning him away, until he was finally admitted the next day, and then died the same day.
I have no experinece with the US medical system , only the anacdotal stories I've been told, or read about, but I really don't think anything like this could happen in Canada, or at least I hope it wouldn't. But I think you can see from this story the dangers of going to a small private hospital or clinic.

[amdg]

Linky to the story?

[AssKissinger]

This shit happens all the time in the states. I'm surprised it's going on in Japan. What kind of hospital can't deal with a stroke? That's like on orchestra not being able to handle Beethoven.

[GuyJean]

Linky to the story?

Police to investigate death of pregnant woman after 18 hospitals refused to treat her
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20061018p2a00m0na016000c.html

Mika Takasaki, 32, from Gojo, Nara Prefecture, fell unconscious at Oyodo Hospital in the prefecture on early Aug. 8. As it was not equipped to treat her, the hospital tried to find another institution, but 18 hospitals refused to accept her.

....

Police will also discuss whether to press charges against the other hospitals that refused to treat Takasaki. Some of them said that they couldn't accept the pregnant woman because they had no available beds. (Mainichi)

GJ

[canman]

Really AK, all the time. I thought that they would refuse a patient without insurance, which I still think is reprehensible, but here in Japan everybody is insured. My wife and I were talking about it,a nd she said that the doc didn't want her death on his watch, so he wouldn't have an MRI or a CT done and just tried to get her shipped out. THis bastard should lose his license for something like this.

[F_O_R_E_X]

They should all be charged with murder.

Wrong!! they should be charged with "Double Murder" !! (fetus)

[Iraira]

Wrong!! they should be charged with "Double Murder" !! (fetus)

Actually, the kid lived. Still this kinda crap bites...and leaves me with the feeling that justice sometimes needs to be handed out with a baseball bat. Whose got a good swing?

[Pokemon-Master]

If you want to stay alive stay away from those hospitals, japan still runs experimental leprosy colonies...and does the type of shit you'd find in a 3rd world nation.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have no experinece with the US medical system , only the anacdotal stories I've been told, or read about, but I really don't think anything like this could happen in Canada, or at least I hope it wouldn't.

My brother went on a trip to BC and got pretty bad food poisoning. Since he didn't have insurance he couldn't get treated at any hospitals unless he paid CN$400 up front which he didn't have. So it can happen in Canada if you aren't a Canadian.

In the US emergency rooms are supposed to treat you whether or not you have insurance. You might end up with a lifetime of debt if you don't have any though. The other problem with this is that people who don't have insurance will go to the emergency room when they don't need to because they can't get a clinic to treat them. This contributes a lot to problems with overcrowding.

[Kuang_Grade]

In the US, if you are clearly in dire need of emergency treatment, you'll get it...As SJ stated, you might get a huge bill (which are vastly inflated because a large (and growing) portion of people can't/will not pay their bills) but you'll be treated.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/KnowYourRights/KnowYourEmergencyRoomRights.aspx

Fortunately, a federal law passed in 1986 to prohibit a practice commonly known as "patient dumping" gives you the right to emergency care regardless of your ability to pay. The federal law applies to hospitals that participate in Medicare -- and that includes most hospitals in the United States. However, the patient-dumping law does not give you carte blanche.
What you're entitled to
In a nutshell, the federal patient-dumping law entitles you to three things: screening, emergency care and appropriate transfers. A hospital must provide "stabilizing care" for a patient with an emergency medical condition. The hospital must screen for the emergency and provide the care without inquiring about your ability to pay.
....
According to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), an emergency medical condition means:
(A) a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in:
placing the health of the individual (or, with respect to a pregnant woman, the health of the woman or her unborn child) in serious jeopardy
serious impairment to bodily functions, or
serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part; or
(B) with respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions:
that there is inadequate time to make a safe transfer to another hospital before delivery, or
that transfer may pose a threat to the health or safety of the woman or the unborn child.

[Greji]

In the US, if you are clearly in dire need of emergency treatment, you'll get it...As SJ stated, you might get a huge bill (which are vastly inflated because a large (and growing) portion of people can't/will not pay their bills) but you'll be treated.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/KnowYourRights/KnowYourEmergencyRoomRights.aspx

This is true in Japan also. But in Japan, I have not heard of anyone in need of medical treatment being refused for no insurance. Most of the horror stories I hear are from FGs trying to beat the system.

Now that is not to say that abuses toward patients do not occur in Japan. However, it has been my experience that when one goes to a Japanese hospital the subject of insurance seldom comes up until after any needed immediate, or emergency treatment is completed.

[American Oyaji]

Yeah,
The emegerncy facility didn't ask for my hokensho until I was leaving.

[canman]

When I first came over and was working for Geos, the cheap bastards didn't give us regular insurance, we were using AIU, or Mitsui, I can't remember. A few times I went to the hospital or clinic and they would ask to see my hokensho and I had to explain that I had insurance but it was private. Then they would get this look on their face like" oh dead beat gaijin". A couple of places even asked me if I had cash to pay them. Talk about nice service.
That is why me and another teacher at the university I teach at are in the process, a very slow process, of making a data base of hospitals and clinics in the Hachinohe area that accepts foreigners, and have some level of English ability, or some other language. To prevent any kind of misunderstanding.

[Captain Japan]

Really AK, all the time. I thought that they would refuse a patient without insurance, which I still think is reprehensible, but here in Japan everybody is insured. My wife and I were talking about it,a nd she said that the doc didn't want her death on his watch, so he wouldn't have an MRI or a CT done and just tried to get her shipped out. THis bastard should lose his license for something like this.

By this logic then nobody in serious condition would ever be admitted to a hospital. And how did the doctors know she was terminal through a simple phone call?

There seems to be a lot of holes in this story, and I wonder whether a police investigation will amount to anything.

[Visitor K]

Pregnant woman dies after being turned away by seven hospitals...

TOKYO, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Seven Tokyo hospitals turned away a pregnant woman who complained of headaches and vomiting, and who died three days later of a brain hemorrhage, officials say.