Euthanasia refers to actions taken to hasten the death of patients, including the terminally ill, through specific measures such as the administration of pharmaceuticals for the purpose of helping people escape agony.
While some countries have legalized such actions, Japan does not have legal provisions for euthanasia. Therefore, end-of-life actions, even with the consent of the patient, could fall under criminal statutes, including murder, murder at the victim's request and assisted suicide.
The first time a doctor in Japan was found guilty of murder for performing euthanasia was in 1991, involving an incident at Tokai University Hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture. The Yokohama District Court established four conditions for allowing euthanasia: (1) the patient is suffering from intolerable physical pain; (2) the patient's death is inevitable and imminent; (3) there are no alternative measures for alleviating or relieving the physical pain; and (4) the patient shows a clear desire to die.
These conditions set a precedent for adjudication in subsequent cases.
In 1998, a 58-year-old patient hospitalized at Kawasaki Kyodo Hospital in Kawasaki died after the breathing tube was removed and a muscle relaxant was administered. The doctor accused of murder asserted that the patient's death was dignified and the actions were not illegal. The doctor's appeal went all the way to the Supreme Court, but the doctor was found guilty for reasons including that the end-of-life decision was flawed.
Meanwhile, papers pertaining to a murder case were sent to public prosecutors regarding two doctors at Imizu City Hospital in Toyama Prefecture after they disconnected ventilators of seven patients, including people with terminal cancer. The Toyama District Public Prosecutors Office dismissed the case in 2009, saying that the actions of the physicians were not intended to hasten the death of the patients or directly end their lives.
In all these cases, the patients' primary doctors committed the acts at their respective medical facilities.
The latest case is significantly different as physicians other than the primary doctor allegedly administered drugs to kill the patient at the residence of the deceased.
The Kyoto prefectural police said they do not believe the case falls under euthanasia for reasons including that the female patient's death was not imminent, the two doctors were not her primary physicians and money was passed to one of the physicians.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
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