Ex-head of Japan hospital suspected of covering up murder in hospital

From Kyodo

February 15 2025

AOMORI – A former head of a hospital in northeastern Japan and his doctor brother were sent to prosecutors on Saturday for allegedly covering up the murder of a patient by another patient in 2023, police said.

Takashi Ishiyama, 61, and Tetsu Ishiyama, 60, the primary physician of the victim who was killed at Michinoku Memorial Hospital in Aomori Prefecture, were arrested Friday on suspicion of fabricating a death certificate that stated the cause of death as pneumonia.

The murderer has already been sentenced to 17 years in prison for fatally stabbing Seietsu Takahashi, 73, in the face with a toothbrush. The assailant had been hospitalized for alcohol addiction and was sharing a room with Takahashi, according to a court ruling.

The Ishiyamas were allegedly aware of the murder but tried to hide it, including by providing the false death certificate to Takahashi’s family.

According to police and other sources, a nurse found Takahashi bleeding on his bed just before midnight on March 12, 2023. He was confirmed dead the next morning.

His family was informed by the hospital that Takahashi “seemed to have fallen.”

The family sought to arrange a funeral but the hospital insisted on making the arrangements.

The family saw the body at a funeral home that was designated by the hospital and noticed that Takahashi’s face was wrapped in blood-stained bandages. No explanation was provided.

After the hospital failed to report the death, an insider notified the police about eight hours later. An autopsy found that Takahashi had died of injuries to the head and face, not pneumonia.