Parents in Japan struggle to care for hospitalized kids

Parents in Japan struggle to care for hospitalized kids

Parents with hospitalized kids are struggling, single parents are struggling, families with elders in their house are struggling. What govt actually have done? Subsidies?

I understand their pain.

Everyone is struggling, everyone needs subsidies.

That happens when the economy turns into socialistic one.

Soon everyone will need subsidy.

Everyone is struggling, everyone needs subsidies. 

That happens when the economy turns into socialistic one. 

Soon everyone will need subsidy

Exactly

That happens when the economy turns into socialistic one.

Really? Then pray tell why it works in many countries, particularly in Scandinavia?

The "system" isnt the problem really, it's how it's being run, tailored to the one's who support the ruling party, aka the LDP.

For far too many years, the LDP didnt give a crap about the "younger" generations, and they are paying the price for it now.

I understand their pain.

I really dont think you do!

When I was in hospital for a cancer op I rented a private room with a bathroom. My wife slept for a week on a comfortable cot bed. She had to find her own food.

Is there no children's hospital in Tokyo?

Everyone is struggling, everyone needs subsidies.

But the rich get the lion's share of it and tend to enjoy more "socialism." But care and concern for sick children is surely fundamental to a good society, no?

No doubt it's the hospitals own stupid rules that prevented them getting something better for the mother.

Is there no children's hospital in Tokyo?

There are. But each one has its own set of stupid rules that are tailored for their own selfish standards without any consideration for the families. Until this moment (I think) many hospitals do not allow parents to stay with their children "because of COVID".

Having a parent stay will help the child recover quickly.

"You can usually stay with your child in hospital. Staying in a hospital can be frightening, particularly for children. They're suddenly in a very different place, surrounded by people they don't know. New sights, sounds, and smells can be scary for a child."

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hospitals/going-into-hospital/staying-with-my-child-in-hospital/

the hospitals own stupid rules

A hospice I know allowed only two people from the family of a dying man to attend his death. So, yeah, rules often have to take precedence over compassion.

Crahe-Sato wanted to stay with her child at Japanese hospitals to provide emotional support, but she experienced "culture shock" due to the markedly different approach, not to mention the meager accommodations, compared with overseas medical facilities.

The simple solution is often the best...

If Crahe-Sato San thinks care is better in Belgium or France then she should have taken her son there. Or paid for a private room as any Japanese person would have to have done if they wanted "special" service.

Until this moment (I think) many hospitals do not allow parents to stay with their children "because of COVID".

A lot of hospitals are still doing this. Many women are delivering babies without their partners there offering support.

I remember something similar happening in Japan when my son was 4, with pneumonia.

The local hospital had no space; cot, bed or otherwise for me to stay next to him,

and I would not leave him alone there, so we made a compromise:

I would bring my son in for 4 consecutive days as outpatient for medication in IV's,

and took him home to recuperate.

I believe his recuperation was better being at home.

I remembered my own time as a 4 year old in hospital for an eye operation,

and feeling alone, without parents nearby, with bandaged eyes in darkness.

Hospitals in Japan do not like parents staying, they see them as under foot,

but recovery is more than just the physical body.

I still vividly remember my childhood stay in hospital.

It was the loneliness and the trauma of being separated from my family that was the worst aspect of being there.

Although very different I really got that "why are you here" kind of vibe when my wife and new born were in the hospital for 7 days, and this was before covid. Felt like everything was made in such a way to make you go home as fast as possible.

As the government want parents to work, work and work, of course, they will struggle.

They will struggle, as they can't work, and will lose pay, because they want to or have to go to hospital.

They will struggle if they have to pay for medical bills while losing their salary.

They will struggle emotionally as they are tired, from work, struggling with finances and worry.

But hopefully, we won't have to worry about going bankrupt like the USA. We won't have to worry about whether I can pay for prescription prices. Hopefully, the burden of worry, is less here than in say some other countries, that have NO AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE.

Larr FlintToday  07:38 am JST

I understand their pain. 

Everyone is struggling, everyone needs subsidies. 

That happens when the economy turns into socialistic one. 

Soon everyone will need subsidy.

It's not a subsidy... it's an investment in the family, the next-gen, and also in the future taxpayers.

Why is giving to the people seen as a "SUBSIDY" but using the very same tax money (paid by the working people) to give to say BMW, etc seen as an "INVESTMENT?" Japan, the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy the USA, and Canada are not socialist economies. But then again, I suppose Scrooge or a true capitalist might say "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. and I'll add "and decrease the burden on the taxpayer.

This has nothing to do with capitalist or socialist labels, but with how EVERYONE can help each other, businesses and the taxpayer. I wonder what was medicine like 150 years ago with NO SOCIAL health care. I think we know which is better. You won't find many Americans in Japan, France, the UK, Germany, etc wanting to choose the US health care system, anytime soon.

In some cases, the Japanese hospitals did not welcome her presence. She says often parents are never even given a choice of whether or not to stay with their child at a hospital.

Well, I'm not sure what hospital that was, but it was pretty much expected as far as my experience goes.

It is better for the children. B). It's better for the parent, and C) It's better for the nursing staff as much of the day-to-day care of the child is done by the parents. That sounds like a pretty bad hospital but certainly not our experience. But to compare FRANCE with Japan is certainly going to be a culture shock. France has a system that is very very generous even by other European standards. Sounds like she wanted free food, a free hair cut and a free massage ( at the point of delivery) . I might go along with that for the patients. But not for MUM and DAD. It's a hospital, not a health resort.

Guess why this situation happens in Japan ?

Taxes collected by government cannot follow the spending. In addition, the use of those revenues is spent totally without wisdom (you know about roads build leading to nowhere..).

Demography is making that shift inevitable.

Europe is trying to prevent that by population replacement, with rich leaders not needing at all to feel concerned about the consequences.

France hospitals are nice normally because of the more or less cultural Christian way of seeings things : compassion, empathy, taking care of the weak and poor, etc.

My last daughter had a condition that threaten her life the first days and had to stay 7 days in neonatalogy (in France). We could not stay with her. Doctors were really involved and showing personal concerns about our situation. I thank them again today.

Unfortunately this is an example of the holes in quality of care in the Japanese system of public health, hospitals get away with forcing labor from parents by abusing the deeply ingrained culture of parents and other family members being the ones procuring as much care as possible for sick children. Fortunately this is not an absolute rule and some hospitals do take full care of the children and accommodate the parents whenever is possible, but unfortunately it is not the rule.

Tragically, Leon died last May at the age of 9.

Oh man, I can’t imagine how devastating that was, very tragic, I’m so sorry for her loss.

Hospital rules can be pretty arbitrary about stuff like this. My daughter was born with a life threatening condition in the NICU and while my wife was hospitalized with her, their visiting time was exactly one hour each day, not a second more. It was insanely arbitrary and made things way more stressful for my wife than they needed to be (daughter ultimately ended up fully recovering).

When you travel to another country to live, don't expect to have things the way you had them in the country you came from. I feel her pain, and I understand the reasons why for example the hospital would not let her eat with her child because of sanitary reasons. If she wanted the treatment she so desired perhaps, she could have taken her child back to Belgium where she presumed she could get the services that she expect in the country she came from and support him as she desired. Her child is not the only one in the hospital, so the "ME Privilege" is a selfish one because the hospital had to think about all of its patients there not just her child who is getting the best care they possibly can provide.

That's been pretty standard in Japan all my years here.

They expect a parent beside your child at all times.

Not easy.

When you travel to another country to live, don't expect to have things the way you had them in the country you came from.

It's an utterly facile argument. How many Japanese would love to stay with their kids too? But just stick to the rules because ... well because they are rules, without questioning them. How many rules are there just for the sake of it but have never been challenged? How many rules just not to inconvenience someone higher up? My example of the death in a hospice above was nothing to do with foreigners demanding visiting rights. No one was foreign. But the Japanese involved were appalled at such inflexibility in literally a life and death situation. Some of the lack of compassion on show here is dreadful.

There is a comment here that this would not happen in Scandinavian countries, but what the comment left out was that in these countries, taxes and health care taxes are very high. And also the the populations are minuscule compared to countries like Japan. So by all means move to these countries, but be aware that the costs of living are sky high.