Elderly woman dies in Nagoya, severely disabled son weakens; City does not immediately check home as ‘low emergency’

Extract from The Chunichi Shimbun

May 22 2024

NAGOYA – A woman in her 70s died at her home in Nagoya’s Meito Ward, and her severely disabled son in his 40s, who lived with her, was found in a weakened state on the 14th of this month, the city learned in an interview. The city was contacted by the facility for the disabled that the son attends, and staff visited the parent and child’s home multiple times, but they did not check inside the house, and it took six days from the initial contact until the child was discovered.

According to the city, the facility contacted the ward office on the 8th stating that they were unable to contact the mother. From that day until the 13th, staff contacted the mother’s cell phone and visited her home. Although we were unable to contact them, we judged that the urgency was low, as there was no mail left in the pile.