Photo/Illutration The fire department in Handa, Aichi Prefecture (Akihito Usui)

HANDA, Aichi Prefecture—Local emergency responders are under fire here for wrongfully declaring an elderly man dead while he was still alive and in need of medical assistance.

The man, in his 70s, was eventually discovered to be moving and rushed to the hospital, but died later that day.

According to the fire department here, paramedics responded to an emergency call reporting unattended newspapers piling up outside the man’s apartment in the neighboring town of Higashiura on the morning of Nov. 10.

Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered the man in the bathroom, showing no signs of life.

After assessing the man’s condition, the paramedics concluded that he was deceased and deemed it unnecessary to transport him to a hospital.

However, shortly after the initial assessment, police officers who had taken over the scene noticed the man’s mouth and fingers moving.

They immediately contacted emergency services again. When paramedics returned, they were able to revive him.

The man was then transported to the hospital, but ultimately passed away later that evening.

The fire department has since apologized to the man’s family. He had lived alone in the apartment.

The fire chief acknowledged on Nov. 11 that the paramedics allowed the circumstances at the scene to mislead them into believing the man was already dead.

He emphasized that they should have been more cautious and used a stethoscope, a blood pressure monitor and other medical equipment for a more accurate assessment.

He also pledged to investigate why these instruments were not used.

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