This is so terrible I can’t even think of a proper way to introduce it:

TOKYO - An 89-year-old woman died after an ambulance crew spent two hours trying 30 hospitals before finding one that would accept her for treatment, Japanese officials said Friday.

Not to make light of this, but it reminds me of a Romanian film I saw last year called The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a black comedy poking fun at the bureaucracy of the Romanian health care system. A man complains of chest pains to his neighbor and spends the duration of the film being driven from hospital to hospital. None are able to admit him. You might be able to guess the ending.

Last year, a pregnant woman in western Japan died after being refused admission by about 20 hospitals that said they were full.

The latest case underscores Japan’s health care woes, in part created by a shortage of doctors in the country’s rapidly aging society. Critics say long working hours and a government policy change several years ago to keep the number of doctors down are to blame.

You can read the rest of the story here.

(Via Japundit)