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Japan, Tokyo – A 44-year-old kidney disease patient died a week after her dialysis treatment was terminated by a doctor who offered her such an option, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.
The woman, a resident of Tokyo, died in August last year after a 50-year-old surgeon at Fussa Hospital in the capital’s suburban city of Fussa presented the option of discontinuing her dialysis treatment and she chose that path.
According to the hospital, two other patients — a man in his 30s and another man aged 55 — also had their dialyses terminated, and the 55-year-old later died.
A set of guidelines issued by the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy allows for withdrawal of dialysis only under limited circumstances, such as the patient’s condition being extremely poor. As the incidents at the hospital deviate from those guidelines, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which oversees the hospital, launched an on-site inspection of the facility on March 6 in accordance with the Medical Care Act.
The surgeon, however, insists that “Patients should be granted the right not to undergo dialysis treatment.”
Source and full English article: The Mainichi
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190307/p2a/00m/0na/007000c
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