Family of a man who died at Japanese Defense Hospital with flawed info system awarded 27 million Yen in damages

From Jiji Press

February 10 2021

TOKYO – A man who had been admitted to a Japanese Defense Ministry-run hospital died in 2015 without receiving prompt treatment as his medical information was not shared, relatives and officials said Wednesday. 

On Jan. 21 this year, Tokyo District Court ordered the government to pay some 27 million yen in damages to the man’s family, a ruling that has already become final.

The ministry said that it believes that there was a flaw in the way that the National Defense Medical College Hospital operated.

The man, then 83, was diagnosed with bile duct cancer at the hospital in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, in mid-May 2015, according to the court ruling and other sources.

He then moved to an affiliated hospital in Tokorozawa to undergo surgery to expand his liver, a treatment needed to remove the tumor. During the surgery, his small intestine was damaged and he received treatment to repair it.