This is a patient who visited our clinic recently.

She is an elderly woman who regularly attends rehabilitation for her shoulder at a nearby general hospital.

On that day, her family was planning to drive her to the hospital for her rehabilitation appointment.

That morning, however, she fell and injured her head and arm.

When her family called the general hospital, they were told:

“We do not have a doctor who can see those symptoms today. Please visit another medical facility first, and then come here.”

She came to our clinic instead. We examined her, performed the necessary tests, and fortunately found no serious abnormalities. We advised her to proceed with her rehabilitation appointment the following day.

It was a hospital.

I assume there was at least one doctor there.

Moreover, she was already a patient of that hospital.

In today’s Japan, not seeing patients has become normal.

Many physicians only see the conditions that fall within their own specialty.

Patients are often turned away based solely on a phone call—

without ever being examined.

Medical system collapse does not mean that hospitals disappear.

Medical system collapse occurs when more and more physicians lose the willingness to see patients in front of them.

A patient should not be rejected before being seen.

A doctor may ultimately determine that another specialist or facility is more appropriate.

But first, we should examine the patient, assess the situation, and guide them to the right place.

That is where medicine begins.