The woman complained of nausea and other symptoms at a clinic in Chofu city and the doctor at the clinic contacted Kyorin University Hospital, one of the designated perinatal care centers, in adjacent Mitaka city and three other hospitals in Tokyo but they all rejected the woman, the sources said.

She was eventually accepted by Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital in Sumida Ward, 20 kilometers away from where she was, and she gave birth and underwent treatment for a brain hemorrhage, according to the sources.

The clinic said the baby is fine but it is not aware of the condition of the mother, while the health ministry said it has been told the mother is in a serious condition.

The woman was in her 41st week of pregnancy and started showing the symptoms just past midnight on Sept. 22. The head of the clinic was summoned at around 3 a.m. and concluded she was highly likely suffering a brain disorder and then contacted Kyorin, the sources said.

Kyorin rejected her on the grounds that a maternity doctor was engaged in an operation. The clinic contacted three other hospitals but met with rejections. Bokutoh was contacted around 5:30 a.m. and accepted her.

A vehicle carrying her left the clinic for Bokutoh around 6:20 a.m., the sources said.

The incident took place just 11 days before the case of a 36-year-old woman who was rejected by eight hospitals including Bokutoh on Oct. 4. She was later accepted by Bokutoh and gave birth there to a baby but died three days later. The hospital had a chronic shortage of staff doctors.