04 Feb 2009 Another Government-Run Medicine Cautionary Tale: Man Dies After 14 Hospitals Refuse to Admit Him

From FOXNews.com, another cautionary tale about the perils of the shortages that accompany government-run medicine in every nation that ha tried it:

Japanese Man Dies After 14 Hospitals Refuse to Admit Him

A 69-year-old Japanese man injured in a traffic accident died after paramedics spent more than an hour negotiating with 14 hospitals before finding one to admit him, a fire department official said Wednesday.

The man, whose bicycle collided with a motorcycle in the western city of Itami, waited at the scene in an ambulance because the hospitals said they could not accept him, citing a lack of specialists, equipment, beds and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto.

It was the latest in a string of recent cases in Japan in which patients were denied treatment, underscoring the country’s health care woes that include a shortage of doctors.

…Ikemoto said the victim might have survived if a hospital would have accepted him more quickly. “I wish hospitals are more willing to take patients, but they have their own reasons, too,” he said.

…The motorcyclist involved in the Jan. 20 accident was hurt too and was also denied medical care by two hospitals before one accepted him, Ikemoto said. He was recovering from his injuries.

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.

Read the rest here.

For more on health care, the dangers of government-run health care and related issues, please visit The National Center for Public Policy Research’s health care and retirement security task forces pages here.

Hat tip: @Infidelsarecool on Twitter.
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Labels: Government Health Care, Health Care, Retirement