Not that you’d ever want to lose a finger, but if you do find yourself in that situation, Japan is a pretty good place for it to happen, thanks to the country’s well-developed medical infrastructure and national health insurance system. For example, last year Masahiro Nouchi went to a medical facility in Tokyo and told the staff he’d had an accident that ended with one of his fingers being severed.
Not only were they able to patch him up, Japan’s national health insurance covered 40,000 yen of his medical expenses. Nouchi benefited from the system again a month later when, after returning to his home in Gifu City, he needed follow-up treatment and insurance saved him an additional 5,000 yen.
However, the 58-year-old Nouchi has now been arrested on charges of insurance fraud. This might seem surprising, since while it’s not so hard to fake internal damage such as intestinal disorders or whiplash, you can’t really fake losing a finger. Nouchi’s legal troubles don’t stem from pretending to lose a digit, though, but from lying about how it happened, since he severed his own finger on purpose, according to the authorities.
All this talk of criminal activity and lopping off fingers might have you thinking of the yakuza practice known as yubitsume. Essentially, when a member of one of Japan’s organized crime syndicates majorly screws up, the traditional way to atone for it is by cutting of a portion of their pinky. Sure enough, an investigation into Nouchi’s insurance claims found that he belongs to the Rokudaime Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest yakuza organization.
It’s said that yubitsume became a custom because severing part of the pinky makes it difficult to keep a firm grip on the handle of a knife or sword, thus symbolizing a yakuza acknowledging that his transgression was so great that he’s not fit to fight directly as a member of the organization. However, in the modern era yubitsume also implicitly embodies another solemn resolution: paying your own resulting medical expenses.
Japan’s national health insurance doesn’t cover self-inflicted finger-severing, and so claiming that a yubitsume wound was an accident and accepting insurance benefits for it is illegal. Gifu Prefectural Police say that, to their knowledge, this is the first time for yubistume-related insurance fraud to lead to an arrest.
Though yubitsume is often portrayed in films as a sign that someone has left a life of crime behind, it’s not exclusive to those who have severed ties with a criminal organization, and Nouchi is described by investigators as being an active Yamaguchi-gumi member, and two other members of Nouchi’s sub-division within the syndicate have also been arrested on charges of collusion in the insurance claim.
Sources: Jiji, Sankei Shimbun, Tokai TV via Livedoor News
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- https://soranews24.com/2024/10/12/yakuza-member-arrested-on-charges-of-using-insurance-to-pay-for-severed-finger-treatment/
20 Comments
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Ah_so
What would have happened if he hadn't cut off his finger? You could argue he didn't have a choice.
TaiwanIsNotChina
You would think this coverage would be standard in the yakuza health plan.
mu-da
Totally misleading photograph for this article.
Fighto!
Not exactly projecting an image of wealth or power if this grub needs to seek help from the NHI.
I bet he has committed far more serious crimes, too.
Some dude
So who fingered him?
didou
I thought he severed his finger while cutting daikon
Mr Kipling
So self inflicted illness or sickness not covered? Alcoholics? the obese? attempted suicides? Self harmers? rock climbers?
Where to draw the line?
Lindsay
So, medical insurance in Japan doesn’t cover you for self-inflicted wounds. It doesn’t seem right that the health insurance body can pick and choose which injuries they cover. If he had said he closed a door on his finger he would not have had a problem.
Mr Kipling
The wound from a knife would look different to a finger severed by a door, circular saw or lawn mower. That and the arm full of tattoos ..
I once told the doctor I hurt my hand falling off my bicycle. He informed me I had a broken knuckle also known as a "boxers fracture" and there is only one way to get this. Making a fist and hitting something hard... Busted!
Abe234
Fantastic! Now we have a doctor, or a nurse who went a broke patient confidentiality. What would have happened if the docs, nurses, and police found out he did have an accident with say a circular saw? The patient would be within their rights to take the doc, nurse, and hospital for breach of patient confidentiality.
As some one above mentioned , suicidal attempt, self harm, wrist cutting, smoking, drinking, maybe not riding your bike with a helmet, maybe be construed as self injury. Where do we draw the line, and where do the docs decide to become the police? Mmmmm.
The article doesn’t explain who, or why this was reported. And who broke patient confidentiality that’s supposed to be a golden rule with all health care professionals.
Jonathan Prin
That yakuza was so stupid as not to say he had cut himself with a sharp tool ?
And yes soon there won’t be enough money for all Japanese to be reimbursed for health treatment.
So if he could not afford the treatment and that his finger rots, hospital would not treat you for gangrene or blood poisoning ?
Mr Kipling
The article doesn't say so but he must have said his finger was removed in a way that would have been covered by health insurance but the hospital found this was not the case.
ian
They are being too hard on the Yakuza
ian
Id like to think that the hospital knew exactly what it was from the beginning but that was not their concern, their concern was to treat the patient.
The patient's case was surely a flag with the insurance company and the first thing they did was to check if the patient is yakuza
DanteKH
Another proof that the patient confidentiality is non existing in Japan and Japanese hospitals.
As far as it goes, a doctor, or a hospital should not discriminate any person despite their social status or beliefs, not to mention race, ethnicity, etc.
But that's all theoretical only.
ian
He used insurance. If he didn't, his case wouldn't/can't be reviewed by the insurance company.
Maybe in your country the insurance company just pays all claims without question but not here
robert maes
sometimes you must just love this country.
could not dream it up
Roger R.
Never thought about it but I guess I always assumed it would be covered as 労災.
JLivermore
¥45,000 just isn’t that much money in the context of medical bills or loss of a finger.
nandakandamanda
A friend's failing business was taken over by the Y who injected cash and installed some of their members in his office. One of them had to cut a section of pinkie off, but when he went to the Doc's surgery seeking urgent treatment, the Doc told him to sit in the waiting room and wait his turn. They all knew why he was there. That long wait was really agonizing, he later said.
The next time he had to cut a further section off, he phoned the surgery in advance and made an appointment!