Severely Disabled Woman Contracted Coronavirus in January 2023, Refused Admission to a Tokyo Metropolitan Hospital

Extract from The Tokyo Shimbun

February 8 2023

TOKYO – In January this year, a disabled woman in Ota Ward, Tokyo, who uses home visiting care, contracted a new variant of the coronavirus and requested to be admitted to a metropolitan hospital, but was refused. Because the coronavirus in persons with severe disabilities is life-threatening, in November last year, parties concerned agreed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) to allow home visits to 14 metropolitan hospitals and other places. The parties demanded an explanation of the situation, but the TMG refused to discuss the situation face-to-face. Those who were not convinced visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office on 7th February to lodge a complaint.

It all started on 4th January. The woman mentioned above, who has cerebral palsy and a speech impediment, contracted the new coronavirus and on the night of 5th January she deteriorated and called an ambulance; as she was using a 24-hour care centre, she requested to be admitted to a metropolitan hospital, which had an agreement with the centre. However, the emergency services could not find anywhere to admit her and she was sent home.

The Metropolitan Government gave the following reason for the refusal: “Medical care was tight due to the coronavirus and night time”.

When the parties involved requested a discussion, the TMG responded that it could respond to a Zoom call of 30-40 minutes. The parties, who have their own different forms of disabilities; such as speech impediments and time-consuming conversations, and who find it difficult to have smooth discussions through zooming, were angry, leading to the sudden visit to the TMG.

Two hours and 40 minutes after arriving at the TMG, discussions began. Masahiro Shukuiwa, head of the Project Promotion Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Department of Infectious Disease Control, reiterated that, given that the number of hospitalised patients at the time was over 4,000, “it was not so much the presence of a home visit, but the tightness of the medical situation”. The parties involved in the case were in disbelief as to how he could be so sure.

Emiko Tanaka, a professor of social welfare at Tokyo Kasei University, said, “Many people with severe disabilities will probably have the question that ordinary people would not have refused. This is because they were refusing to use repeated visits.If a user is hospitalized using repeated visits, the medical side would rather be saved.The daily life assistance of familiar supporters allows smooth communication. I hope it will be an opportunity to correctly understand the visit.”