Patient's death bares hole in the system

It seems there is a huge hole in emergency medicine in the big city. A 36-year-old woman who was nine months pregnant became ill and sought emergency treatment in Tokyo. She was rejected by seven hospitals. Although she was eventually accepted about 75 minutes later by one of the earlier hospitals and gave birth, she died three days later from cerebral hemorrhage.

A similar case occurred in Nara prefecture in 2006. While a pregnant woman fell into critical condition at a hospital and had to be transferred to another one that could deal with her serious symptoms, 19 hospitals, including ones in neighboring Osaka prefecture, shut their doors to her. She also died of cerebral hemorrhage.

Behind the tragedies is a shortage of obstetricians across the nation. Medical institutions are losing their capacity to accept emergency patients.