KYOTO -- A doctor arrested on suspicion of assisting a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to die had been communicating with her on social media for 11 months before her death, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Yoshikazu Okubo, a former technical official at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, also recommended suicide methods, according to sources.
The communication is believed to have been conducted via messaging services on social media that cannot be seen by other users.
Investigations by the Kyoto Prefectural Police are ongoing.
Okubo, 42, from Sendai and Naoki Yamamoto, a 43-year-old doctor from Minato Ward, Tokyo, were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of killing the woman at her request through the administration of lethal drugs at her apartment building in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, on Nov. 30 last year. She was 51.
The two doctors, who were not the woman's attending physicians, are believed to have met the victim via social media.
The woman used a computer that could be operated using eye movements and had posted comments on Twitter and blogs about her desire for euthanasia from spring in 2018.
"We patients with intractable neurological diseases are battling daily with our broken bodies and minds, and the fear of the pain of death to come," read a tweet posted by the victim on Dec. 28, 2018.
Okubo responded to the post with an online comment that read: "Outsiders stir things up. They must be shut out."
This exchange is believed to be the first contact between Okubo and the victim.
In a post written six days later, the victim wrote: "It would be easy work. A highly skilled doctor wouldn't be necessary."
Okubo replied, "The work is simple. If prosecution can be avoided, I'd like to help."
The victim replied, "I'm so happy I want to cry."
Their exchanges involved specific suicide methods.
On Aug. 25 last year, 3 months before her death, the woman wrote "I wonder if starvation is the only way," "It's still quite hot so I may be able to die from heatstroke."
"I understand that the condition you are in is so bad that you've been forced to find help. You'll need a far better plan than one that might appear in 'Detective Conan' or 'The New Kindaichi Files,'" Okubo replied, referencing popular manga titles.
Okubo suggested ways for the victim to reduce nutrition and increase the temperature of her room.
Their last exchange was on Nov. 9 last year, when the woman wrote, "How can a person who cannot write make a will?" Okubo replied, "There may be problems later if the will is written by someone on your behalf."
According to the investigators, the victim had transferred more than 1 million yen into the account of Yamamoto, who was arrested along with Okubo.
Details of the transfer did not appear in any of the victim's Twitter posts. The Kyoto prefectural police believe that she and Okubo also communicated via direct messages on Twitter that are not viewable by other users.
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