An elderly man in Japan passed away after being sent to the hospital late because paramedics mistakenly thought he was already dead.
According to The Mainichi, paramedics incorrectly judged the man to be deceased in his apartment on Sunday (10 Nov).
That morning, a deliveryman noticed an unusual accumulation of newspapers piled up in front of an apartment door.
Concerned for the tenant’s well-being, he alerted the apartment manager.
Knowing that the tenant was a man in his 70s living alone, the manager called the emergency hotline for assistance.
Police received the call around 9.30am, according to Yomiuri Shimbun.
An ambulance was dispatched to the apartment, where paramedics found the man collapsed and seemingly lifeless in his bathroom.
Source: Toa55 on Canva, for illustration purposes only
They checked for signs of consciousness and breathing, then concluded he had died without using any medical equipment.
The paramedics then left the scene and handed the case over to police.
However, at 11.10am — almost two hours after the initial report — police officers noticed movement in the man’s mouth and fingertips.
Surprised by these signs of life, the officers quickly called for an ambulance to transport him to the local hospital.
Paramedics returned to the scene and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
The man was finally transported to the hospital at 11.40am, but sadly, he passed away later that evening.
The city fire department chief addressed the case in a press conference the following day (11 Nov).
Source: The Mainichi
He acknowledged that while it was unclear whether the delay in transporting the man directly caused his death, it was still a significant error.
The chief also mentioned that the paramedics may have made assumptions based on the piled-up newspapers, which contributed to their misjudgment.
To prevent a similar mistake in the future, the chief stated that paramedics have been instructed to always use medical equipment to confirm their observations.
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Featured image adapted from The Mainichi.
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