SAPPORO, Dec. 2 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A prematurely born underweight baby was rejected last year by seven hospitals in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and died at the eighth hospital 10 days after he was brought in, a city official said Tuesday. A woman in her 30s delivered a 1,300-gram baby boy at her home in Kita Ward of the city on the night of Nov. 15, 2007, when she was in the 27th week of her pregnancy, according to the city and other sources.
A local emergency call center received her call and looked for hospitals which have a neonatal intensive care unit but the seven hospitals, including the Sapporo City General Hospital, refused to accept the baby, saying all their beds were full or citing other reasons.
The baby suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance but he recovered by the treatment of a doctor from the emergency room of the Sapporo City General Hospital who got into the ambulance on the way, the official said.
The baby was accepted at a hospital in Sapporo's Teine Ward about one- and-a-half hours from the emergency call but he died 10 days later, according to the official.
