In the Michinoku Memorial Hospital case that came to light this year in Japan, the hospital director (a physician) and his younger brother (a physician) were arrested for concealing a murder that occurred within the hospital (a patient was stabbed to death with a toothbrush), explaining that the victim had "fallen," and issuing a death certificate listing "pneumonia" to the family (concealing the perpetrator). It was revealed that the brothers' cover-up was meticulously carried out.
Following this, one horrifying story after another began to emerge. Patients were routinely physically restrained overnight by tying their hands and feet to their beds (without following any paperwork or other procedures, likely to avoid leaving any "evidence" behind). An elderly "doctor" suffering from severe dementia (who was unable to speak or sign) was forced to write death certificates, listing "pneumonia" as the cause of death for most patients. Nurses were threatened, telling each other, "There are plenty of people who can replace you." Rumors circulated that nurses who defy doctors would be prevented from transferring to other medical institutions. Other rumors emerged one after another.
It certainly gives the impression of an abnormal hospital.
But when Japanese people, who are accustomed to the common sense of Japanese monkeys, read this news, would they have thought that out of the tens of thousands of medical institutions in Japan, this hospital was the only one with the above-mentioned conditions? Most Japanese people probably thought that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and that there were many other similar medical institutions.
This incident came to light when a hospital employee blew the whistle on the police. Unfortunately for the defendant brothers, their crimes were discovered unexpectedly (in fact, both the hospital director and the younger brother have denied the charges to the police and prosecutors, and have also denied them in criminal trial).
In a village full of Japanese monkeys, we Japanese are learning that it is almost impossible for humans to speak up. Occasionally, news reports emerge of whistleblowers filing lawsuits after suffering despicable and unfair treatment for their whistleblowing.
However, Japanese people who are willing to fight to that extent are extremely rare.
Aren't there many Japanese people who believe that most "scandals" at Japanese medical institutions are covered up through false explanations and medical certificates? In reality, aren't there many people who know that medical crimes are rampant on a daily basis in this country? Aren't there many people who have had similar experiences or heard or seen similar stories? (People who have been hospitalized, their families, hospital staff such as nurses and mental health and welfare workers, etc.)
As experts pointed out on "Close-up Gendai," which aired on terrestrial television at 7:30 p.m. on October 8, Japanese hospitals are "black boxes," and this "black box" is said to be a "necessary evil" (not a perception, but a statement), and hospitals like the one described above are by no means exceptional.
In fact, this level of "scandal" and cover-up is not uncommon in Japan's medical institutions (in the Gunma University Hospital incident, it was only after seven people were killed during surgery that the police finally took action and doctors "began investigating"), educational institutions (the teacher who straddled a student who had collapsed from heatstroke during a kendo club activity and beat him to death was not charged with a crime, and still works for the Board of Education and receives a salary as a civil servant. The man who threw a girl who had just entered junior high school and joined the judo club with a judo technique, leaving her unconscious and in a vegetative state, was not charged with a crime and is still living a comfortable life somewhere, anonymously. are enjoying this. Does any Japanese person know of a case where a school properly "investigated" a student who committed suicide or was bullied to death?), nursing homes (in one case, nursing staff killed bedridden, immobile elderly people by throwing them out the window one after another, and in another case, the director of the nursing home "investigated" only after the third person was killed and the police finally got involved. In cases of elderly abuse in nursing homes and hospitals, patients' families secretly install tiny cameras to create "evidence," which they then take to the police, and the facility finally "investigates" it.).
This is an everyday occurrence and is completely normal.
In my personal life, I have also had many experiences similar to those described above from Japanese monkeys (I'll write about them here someday when I feel like it. It's a pain to write about because I've experienced so many things...).
What surprised me this time wasn't the "scandal" at the hospital or the unscrupulous doctor's cover-up, but the news that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare had issued an "improvement order" to this hospital, marking the third such case nationwide.
This is apparently the third such case in the past 80 years in this country with a population of nearly 130 million, one of the world's leading economies, and tens of thousands of medical institutions.
Doesn't this number seem far more frightening?
From a young age, we "Japanese" are raised (almost silently) at home and at school to live as "monkeys who see nothing, speak nothing, and hear nothing" (the Japanese monkey's greatest virtue, "respect for harmony").
The Japanese monkeys in monkey shows (a traditional Japanese art) never bare their fangs at their breeder.
This is the typical way of life for "Japanese" people in Japan's monkey village, where many of the same faces gather.
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