Comatose hospital patient suffocated with wet towel in Mie

Mercy killing...let him go! Let him go!

Brain dead for seven years. Poor family. I wonder who made the decision to keep him on life support for the seven years? I am assuming it is a family decision in Japan but I really don't know. Anyone?

Brain dead for seven years. Poor family. I wonder who made the decision to keep him on life support for the seven years? I am assuming it is a family decision in Japan but I really don't know. Anyone?

Japan has some archaic laws regarding the definition of life and what is allowable in death. My family here had to sign quite a bit of legal paperwork telling the hospital not to use a respirator when my mother in law was ill, her life could have been prolonged by using one, but it would have been a hellish one at best. In the case of my father in law, we were getting to the stage where we were discussing the issue with the doctors and he had an arrest and the hospital inserted the tube and connected the respirator because we did not tell them otherwise, they were doing what they had to do, but it just extended his already brain dead life. It was hell.

If a person's heart is still beating they are considered alive. Also once a respirator has been put into use with the patient it is extremely difficult to have it removed. Many brain dead people in prolonged vegetative states do and have survived for decades with the assist of the respirator.

Poor father. The decision must have been agonizing for him.

The function of a hospital is what exactly?

As a business it is to make money.

Does it matter that a patient will never be cured?

No

The prolongation of life even in a vegetative state is the norm in many countries.

For whose benefit?

If the man had been brain-dead for 7 years, then it's the father and other family members that suffered. I cannot imagine how I would feel if it were one of mine in that situation. It's hard enough to accept a loss when the loved one is obviously dead, but when the heart is still beating and the body still warm......hell for all concerned.

But is it legally possible to murder a person who is brain-dead?

Suffocating is a terrible way to go. Don't get me wrong. I am in favor of mercy killing. If I am diagnosed with a terminal illness, I don't want to hang on till my organs shut down. I want painkillers galore.

I wonder the same thing as bonword plus the insurance. If the 35 year old patient was a company employee before his injury, was his company insurance paying for his care? If not, was he under his father's insurance? Maybe paying his son's hospital bills finally drove the father over the edge. The father may have gone through his savings and retirement nowadays is bleak.

The father committed suicide later, according to the article.

Poor guy...he was probably living in hell with his son in that state.

Suffocating is a terrible way to go

But surely the brain-dead would feel nothing? Isn't that what brain-dead means? That to all intents and purposes they're already dead?

Thank you Yubaru for the informative and also personal information in regards to respirators and QL decisions.

I greatly appreciate these types of comments.

"Mercy killing...let him go! Let him go!"

The father committed suicide later, according to the article.

"Kizuna."

I suspect the father killed his son and then commited suicide.

And...what was the "incident" that destroyed this young man? Too much left out of this story!

Yes, Yubaru. Great posts. Thank you.

@JapanGal

Respirators can be turned off. After the patient passes, you plug it back in again.

I see we have some readers with a pragmatic bent.

In any case, it's too bad this mercy killing made the father take his own life. I think the court would have shown some sympathy for these circumstances.

Brought back some extremely painful and terrible memories although 2 years and 3 months doesn't compare to seven years...

No mention if the poor wife/mother is still alive ? Losing a son and a husband at the same time - how much worse could it get ?

Respirators can be turned off. After the patient passes, you plug it back in again.

So what did the father's suicide note back home have to say?

But is it legally possible to murder a person who is brain-dead?

Yes it is, if their heart is still beating.

Suffocating is a terrible way to go.

Yes, but it lasts only a few minutes and safe, more and more suicidal chooses this cruel way. Otherwise, almost every kind of death is suffocation, as in most cases the breathing stops before the final heart or brain failure or finally losing consciousness.

I am in favor of mercy killing.

It's been going on is hospitals in many countries of the world secretly for long time, but in most cases only for the rich who can afford paying for mercy killing, although it's a mistake to think it is painless. They go through the same horror of suffocation, just without towel.

Yet, it would be civil in the 21st century to find a legal solution for this issue and not letting people living in desperate fear and suffering for prolong time, not letting them commit suicide or not letting unscrupulous quacks black marketeering with death.

Respirators can be turned off. After the patient passes, you plug it back in again.

I'd imagine these devices would have an activity log which would record anomalies --if not actively monitored itself (i.e. monitored remotely for mechano-electrical failure) whereby any interruption would result in staff being alerted within seconds of an unexpected event.

RIP U__U

I suspect the father killed his son and then commited suicide

Do you really think so? You could be right there...

Sad.... just sad. But think about it, mabey he loved his son so much he didn't want him to be so confuesed and scared when he woke up? That's why he killed him. "Love hurts a whole lot but how I feel now makes it hurt more"

Patients who suffer brain death are not in coma. Patients in coma may or may not progress to brain death.

This man was comatose and it is not clear whether he was brain dead or not. Either way, it is sad that in this day and age there are not better options for people who have a loved one in these states. It's just suffering for everyone. Why not let the person die with at least a little dignity?

Mercy KILLINGS?? They should not be called KILLINGS, they should be called something else, mercy hand or something, this old dude did they right thing, no one can just stand around and see their son lay their like a vegetable. RIP

@dolphingirl

"the victim, who was brain dead before the incident"

Mercy KILLINGS?? They should not be called KILLINGS, they should be called something else

Mercy picnics? Pity parties?

Yes it is, if their heart is still beating.

That makes organ transplants impossible, then. Or at least illegal?

A wet towel. This is one of the central techniques of waterboarding. To experience the sensation of drowning. One of the most horrible tortures, apparently.

With waterboarding though, you have to learn to stop each time before the prisoner dies.

If the son was braindead though, who knows?