14 DAY TRIAL // A 75-year-old Japanese man has reportedly been turned away from 25 different hospitals, all citing a lack of beds and staff to properly attend to him.
The Epoch Times details that the senior asked for medical attention 36 times at the clinics, all within two hours’ time. On January 6, he started experiencing chest pains and having trouble breathing and called an ambulance.
The man, whose name has not been released to the press, was reached by the ambulance in a very short amount of time, adds Japan Daily Press.
The incident reportedly occurred in Kuki, Saitama Prefecture, a town located at a short distance from Japan's capital city of Tokyo. He lived alone, and there is no mention of family members addressing the issue.
Paramedics provided first aid and called several hospitals in order to get the elderly resident checked out.
All 25 hospitals in the city and the neighboring areas were contacted, and all responded that they were not equipped to receive him at that time.
EMTs were eventually able to find a location where he could be treated, a hospital in Ibaraki prefecture, some 20 minutes away. By the time he could be seen by a doctor, his condition had worsened and he passed away on the ambulance.
Doctors pronounced him dead upon arrival at the hospital, three hours after he made the original call alerting emergency services of his condition.
While the patient's cause of death has not been made public at this point, paramedics have mentioned that this is the most they have seen a patient being refused admission to a local hospital. There is no confirmation on the lack of medical attention prompting his death, at this point.
Kuki officials are asking local hospitals to better prepare for situations such as this one, increasing their ER capacity.