“There is nothing to fear from the untouched god” says the late Yuri Hayashi, Kyoto resident and ALS patient

By Barrier Free Japan

July 27 2020

It was reported on Thursday 24 July 2020, that two doctors were arrested by the Kyoto Prefectural Police for allegedly murdering a woman who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, at the patient’s request.

The deceased, a woman aged 51 named Yuri Hayashi, ran a blog and a Twitter account.

These are extracts from Yuri Hayashi’s blog.

On May 6 2018, in her second blog post, it seems Yuri Hayashi was already concerned about the possibility that her caregiver could be found guilty of her murder, should she go abroad to end her life. This worry Hayashi expresses in a blog post entitled ‘Someone Tell Me!‘

Is the attendant guilty of assisting suicide when going abroad to be euthanized?

I want to hear the opinions of specialists.

How can I know in advance?

Should I bring a case?

Can anyone tell me?

After announcing her intention to commit suicide it seems that Hayashi felt she was losing friends.

On May 9 2018 she published this, of which one possible translation of the blog post title would be ‘There is nothing to fear from the untouched god‘:

“I had been talking about euthanasia for a long time, but when I announced that I would start it, I frequently lost contact with my friends. Of course, there were some friends who managed to express their feelings, whether they agreed or not, but most of them were through. The word that suddenly came to my mind was “There is nothing to fear from the untouched god.” As I said the word “euthanasia,” I seem to have become a “god who doesn’t want to be involved.”