Woman with ALS Asked for Referral to Arrested Doctor

From Jiji Press

July 29 2020

Content is altered to withhold the names of the suspects

KYOTO – A woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, had asked her primary care doctor to write a letter of reference to a doctor who has been arrested for allegedly killing the patient at her own request, it was learned Wednesday.

The then attending doctor of Yuri Hayashi declined the referral request because of skepticism about the fact that the patient did not specify the address of the hospital the doctor in question was working at, informed sources said.

Hayashi, who had received around-the-clock care from helpers for some seven years before she died at the age of 51, requested in autumn last year that she be moved to a hospital where she can receive treatment from the arrested doctor (43) after her primary care doctor refused her request to stop feeding her through a gastrostomy tube.

She asked for the reference letter apparently in hope of realizing her wish for euthanasia.