If you should find yourself in enjoying the beaches and you decide to do one of these. . .

. . .be sure you don’t end up needing a   because you may find yourself getting .

This was the unfortunate case for an elderly Japanese man recently, who after receiving head injuries from being struck by a motorcycle died because 14 hospitals denied him treatment!  No, you are reading that right - Not 1 or 4 but 1 4 hospitals!

He died 90 minutes after sustaining the injuries, so its not like there wasn’t time to get him somewhere, but “14 hospitals refused to admit the 69-year-old citing a lack of specialists, equipment and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto, a fire department official.“

Uh. . .those are pathetic excuses considering this: according to the CIA , Japan’s economy ranks 3rd largest in the world and is the 2nd most technologically powerful economy in the world (and last was checked, the CIA was still a pretty reputable source).  Sure, we’re all hurt by a world recession, but this seems pretty inexcusable.

But maybe you thought this was a rare case. . .if only that were true.  Here are some other shocking items of note :  One hospital agreed to treat him when they were called a second time within an hour (why the change?), this man’s case is only the latest of a recent string of rejections by Japanese hospitals, one woman in her 70s was rejected 49 times in Tokyo for her breathing problems, another was rejected 19 times and died eight days later after becoming unconscious after giving birth, and the real kicker is that in 2007 alone, government statistics showed that 14,000 emergency patients were denied treatment at least 3 times before receiving treatment.

Apparently, “[Japanese] hospitals cannot be punished for turning away patients if they are full” but as “Ikemoto said, ‘I wish hospitals are more willing to take patients, but they have their own reasons, too’.”

Have their own reasons? No, actually, you really don’t, or at least not any good ones, because the entire premise of starting a hospital is to treat people, not choose to play evil dictator over the fate of someone’s life.  And to say you don’t have specialists or the right equipment is complete idiocy.  Sure, not all medicinal knowledge translates, but don’t say that there was nothing that could have been done.  How about taking his pulse and making sure he’s alive for starters?  Or do you need equipment for that?  Oh wait, you must have been fresh out of clocks and watches so you couldn’t keep track of his pulse?

Yes its true, American hospitals probably have and will reject their own share of patients too for various valid reasons - as has probably been the fair case for some Japanese hospitals too - and while its not fair to pin all the blame when media only likes to hand out certain details, its also hard not to pin all the blame when its not one, or two hospitals, but fourteen!  That doesn’t sound like a problem with the patient, that sounds like a problem with the entire system!

When you hit the bottom of the barrel, apparently you find new ways to be thankful you still have one.  So even though America’s economy is downright shaky at this point, at least you can still walk into a hospital and be surely confident of receiving treatment.

- IgniteTheMind