I don't know about the rest of EU, but I currently work in France and I'd be shocked if someone were fired because they took half a day off with little to no notice for serious health or family reasons. If anything, the company would be sued in a heartbeat and almost guaranteed to lose.

I worked in the UK for a few years, and have had to take days off with no notice - to attend a funeral, say - and no one even thought about criticising me for it, let alone fire me. That might have been because it was a Japanese company though, I can't really tell.

I also worked in Germany for a while, and a co-worker found himself in a similar position. The company made a point of reminding him that this was not how the rules went before sending him off with instructions not to be back until the situation was resolved.

I don't know which part of EU your friend worked in, but I wonder if your generalisation might not be a bit too broad.