Doctor negligence suspected over death after delivery under anesthetic

Pay up and surrender your license. Then a long jail term to think about it.

He'll just get slapped with a 500,000JPY fine and back to work on Monday. At worst, 20% reduction in salary for 6 months.

There is a reason painless delivery stopped in the 70's... Doctors need to learn from history!

14 women have died since 2010 during or after deliveries involving anesthesia, prompting the health ministry to look into such cases.

That's way too many! These kinds of births are not popular overseas for this reason. Where do they get their information?

I think a few ppl on here are misinformed. Epidurals are still very popular overseas, more so than in Japan according to this article (anything from 1/5 to 2/3 or more in some countries or even clinics as it varies greatly from hosp to hosp, state to state etc).

What I don't get is why no anaesthetist was present during delivery? I assume that Oiki is an obstetrician i.e it's not his role to administer let alone monitor anesthetic drugs hence the fact that he could not "keep up with her rapidly changing condition."

If it was preventable and in fact negligence, which it sounds like, then he should indeed face criminal charges and be jailed. Too many times doctors here get off with no punishment at all for terrible negligence resulting in all sorts of injuries and even death, and are back to doing it the next day.

This article makes it sound like there is something inherently especially dangerous in pain relief in delivery. However, in most developed countries epidural among other methods is a standard procedure offered to women giving birth. When the staff is experienced and properly trained there is no real extra risk on giving birth with pain relief. In my opinion low usage of pain relief on delivery tells something about gender inequality on Japan.

in many western countries, the doctor doesn't administer drugs, a qualified anaesthetist does. but in japan...

That is exactly why I woukd not trust anesthesia in Japan. Greed and little practice make bad surgeons.

Risk is slightly higher with peridural than natural but still very low so hardly no difference.

Rip

14 women have died since 2010 during or after deliveries involving anesthesia

It might seem high, but is the rate significantly different from the general rate of maternal deaths during childbirth? Numbers at the link below suggest perhaps not.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/apr/12/maternal-mortality-rates-millennium-development-goals

GoGoGo - There is a reason painless delivery stopped in the 70's... Doctors need to learn from history!

Disillusioned - That's way too many! These kinds of births are not popular overseas for this reason.

You are both very wrong. This type of localized spinal anesthesia is common practice for childbirth in Western countries. (40% in UK, 60% in US, 80% in France!)

Yer another case of Japan's 80's medicine and procedures. Some facts here:

1- Epidural isn't a pain-free anaesthetic for giving birth, only reduces the pain slightly which allows women to have a quicker recovery.

2- Epidural is administrated as a standard step in giving birth in most of Europe, Latin America and the US.

3- Obstetrician have no legal capacity nor the knowledge to administer Epidural injections - only an anaesthesiologist can.

One of the most incongruous facts of a develop modern country such as Japan is the shocking healthcare and appalling training for new doctors. The lack of modern medicine available and the government's insistence in blocking those is a massive step back for Japan

The problem is lack of experienced anesthesiologists to administer the epidural. In other countries there are staff with decades of experience administering them, so complications are very rare. Here the maternity clinics either hire a 9 to 5 anesthesiologist and induce labor to fit into the schedule, which adds a layer of danger, or obstetricians with insufficient anesthesia experience do it themselves.

That's way too many! These kinds of births are not popular overseas for this reason. Where do they get their information?

Epidural births are extremely popular and commonplace overseas.

Where do you get your information?