Very Tragic: A pregnant woman refused admission by eight hospitals

There is simply no excuse for this woman to die. Very tragic.
Stories like this really make you think about the value of life.
A pregnant woman in Tokyo was refused admission by eight health care institutions, including a metropolitan hospital with emergency care facilities for expectant mothers, and died three days after giving birth and undergoing surgery for a brain hemorrhage at a hospital that finally agreed to admit her, metropolitan government officials said.


Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital

Officials from the metropolitan government and the Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital, which at first refused to admit her but later did so, told a news conference that the hospital had made appropriate decisions.
On Oct 4, the 36-year-old women felt nauseous and visited her maternity doctor at a clinic in Koto Ward. The doctor decided that she needed emergency treatment at a better-equipped institution and arranged a transfer to Bokutoh Hospital, according to the officials.

But the hospital in neighboring Sumida Ward, equipped with emergency room facilities, declined to admit her that day, a Saturday, on the grounds that there was only one licensed obstetric intern on duty.
After the woman was rejected by seven other hospitals, the clinic again asked Bokutoh Hospital to admit her. The general hospital agreed but by then about an hour had passed since it was first contacted.
Bokutoh Hospital, which called an off-duty doctor to deal with the woman’s delivery, performed a Caesarean section as well as surgery for a brain hemorrhage.
The baby was born safely but the woman died three days after the operation.


The woman had suffered a brain hemorrhage


Three full-time doctors and three licensed interns work at Bokutoh Hospital as obstetricians, according to the officials. On weekdays, two of them work the night shift, but just one works the night shift on weekends, they said. The woman was transferred to the hospital on Saturday evening.
The hospital and government officials said the doctor on duty was not aware that the woman had suffered a brain hemorrhage, noting that had the doctor known about it, the woman would have been admitted. The hospital thus made appropriate decisions, they said, adding that the details of communications between the clinic and the hospital are being investigated.

‘‘We dealt with the case as best as we could with the limited staff available. It is a pity that we were unable to save her,’’ one official said.
The shortage of obstetricians, particularly in the countryside, has drawn public attention following a spate of cases in which pregnant women have died after being refused admission by a number of hospitals.

In August 2006, a pregnant woman in Nara Prefecture fell unconscious during labor while awaiting transfer to a better-equipped hospital. The woman was refused admission by 18 hospitals and finally managed to give birth at a hospital but died later.
The latest case has shaken the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, which oversees health care, as it occurred in Tokyo, where it is believed that a sufficient number of obstetricians are available.
‘‘We cannot know unless we look into the case thoroughly, but I’m surprised that this happened in Tokyo,’’ a ministry official said.


Source: JapanToday