89-year-old woman dies after 30 hospitals refuse to accept her in Osaka

The Osaka Municipal Fire Department said Friday that an 89-year-old woman died after 30 hospitals refused to accept her in Tondabayashi and neighboring cities in the prefecture on Christmas Day.
According to the fire department, the woman became ill at her home in Tondabayashi. Her family called an ambulance at 4:49 a.m., but 30 hospitals refused to accept her. When the ambulance finally got her to a hospital at 6:40, she died.
Some hospitals told the ambulance team that their intensive care units were full, while others said they don't accept patients whom they haven't taken care of before. The hospital which finally accepted the woman was one of the hospitals that earlier refused to admit her, saying there was a shortage of doctors on duty.
There were 13 emergency hospitals in the Osaka area, but the fire department said the ambulance didn't try them because the woman was in a stable condition. She only became critical at the last minute when her blood pressure rose.
Officials of the Osaka prefectural government and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said they will investigate the case to see if the cause of death can be linked to the delay in getting her to a hospital.
On Dec 23, another woman, 67, died after 14 hospitals refused to accept her in Tondabayashi. Since similar cases have been reported in other cities due to a lack of doctors nationwide, local and central governments have been discussing countermeasures.