Japan has accomplished much across a wide range of fields since the end of World War II. So why is it that many hospitals here still operate with a third world mentality?

In Japan, trying to get to a hospital is kind of like a deadly game of Russian roulette. It makes no difference whether you are in critical condition due to accident or injury, whether you are on the verge of death, or whether you are a walk-in or being transported by an ambulance, a hospital can refuse to admit you. . . And quite often they do.

That is what happened to Mika Takasaki of Nara Prefecture.

Mika Takasaki, 32, from Gojo, Nara Prefecture, entered Oyodo Hospital in the prefecture on Aug. 7, when she was in her 41st week of pregnancy.

Takasaki had a headache and fell unconscious at about 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 7, according to her family and hospital officials. Nearly 2 hours later, an obstetrician at Oyodo Hospital asked Nara Medical University Hospital to accept Takasaki.

But Nara Medical University Hospital refused, claiming they had no beds available. The next hospital contacted also refused her, because they said their intensive care unit for newborn babies was full. Seventeen other hospitals were contacted before one was found who would accept the ailing woman.

By then it was too late for her. Even though her baby was delivered by Caesarean section, Mika Takasaki died.

Oyodo Hospital officials explained what happened to Takasaki’s family, saying that the obstetrician administered drugs designed to speed up delivery of the baby.

When she complained of a headache, a doctor suspected that she might start having convulsions and gave her drugs to ease the convulsions. A physician pointed out that she might have suffered some brain damage and recommended they carry out a brain scan. But the obstetrician dismissed the physician’s suggestion.

“We suspected she might have suffered a stroke. Even if that was true, we’re not equipped to treat her,” said the director of Oyodo Hospital. “Therefore, we tried to find a hospital that could treat her.”

Update ——————————–

October 18

Police have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Miki Takasaki.