Health experts say ALS woman's death in Kyoto not euthanasia

To the people who wanted the perfect euthanasia doctor and the perfect euthanasia scenario try to remember these guys had to break the law to help this woman. Right up front that requires a non-conformist and non-conformists always deviate from other norms besides the one in question. Many are labeled as "nutty" and many are. But many are also more misunderstood than nutty.

As for the money they are going to need it for their court defense now won't they?

There is only one way to get perfect euthanasia scenarios and that is by way of setting up a legal euthanasia system. Until then, expect more imperfection.

Many people do, sadly they often mess up other peoples lives at the same time... late trains... blood spatter at the bottom of a high rise... This conversation is well overdue, not just in Japan but worldwide

If the lawmakers can take your live, you should be allowed to take your live by yourself too.

Well. Okubo really backed himself into a corner with his surveys and articles didn't he?

So-called experts vs normal people: coldness vs empathy

People should be in control of their own lives.

Question: Is dying by suicide illegal in Japan?

In Japan there's Death Penalty.

If the lawmakers can take your live, you should be allowed to take your live by yourself too.

Question: Is dying by suicide illegal in Japan? ie if someone tries and fails to die by suicide, will the police arrest them?

I don't mean the whole 'for inconvenience caused to the public' fine. I mean the actual act of suicide.

The woman was in pain and suffering living her life day by day! These doctors helped her! For a country which has a high Suicide rate like Japan, it’s better that people die comfortably rather than horribly jumping in front of a train!

Japan's healthcare system requires users to pay cold hard cash for everything. The insurance is billed to individuals who later make co-payments in cash. Many Japanese hospitals and clinics operate to make profits. Given that situation, it is bizarre that in the case of enthenasia, the "experts" are suddenly shocked, viewing a patient's money payments to a doctor unethical or unacceptable.

They should have stated it was consensual as "scientific and data gathering" seems to work for just about anything these days.

That would obviously would backfire, because a proper ethical review by a registered committee is an indispensable requisite for any kind of research involving humans, and this obviously unethical enterprise would never be approved. The label of "scientific" is not simply something that makes anything OK, it is the opposite, only things that are done properly and ethically can be called scientific.

By the way there are perfectly valid studies about euthanasia, but patients do not have to pay to be included, the researchers do not use false names and they specialize in things much more closer to the topic than treating erectile dysfunction.

Hopefully common sense will prevail.

But this is Japan, so I won’t hold my breath

"a doctor in Tokyo, allegedly administered a lethal dose of barbiturates to Yuri Hayashi at her home in the western Japan city of Kyoto on Nov 30 with her consent"

They should have stated it was consensual as "scientific and data gathering" seems to work for just about anything these days.

I don’t think these doctors are murderers. This woman was in incredible suffering and wanted to die in a humane way. She had nothing to loose and willingly paid the money. I don’t want to compare it to putting down a dog with cancer out of its suffering but I think that’s better than suffering through your final days.

Agree with virusrex. There needs to be an honest and open discussion with new laws around assisted suicide and euthanasia. Japan tends to hide things that are embarrassing and inconvenient to their idea of a perfect and homogeneous society and because of this, inadequate and outdated laws prevail and control the narrative. This case has the potential to ruin all the progress that legitimate activists have made for a more humane and dignified death by choice.

Ooooops,

 ""sources also said Yamamoto is suspected of having obtained his medical license illegally.""

Now why am I not surprised at all!!!

I feel that way almost every time a visit a doctor here.

Murder for hire. There is no difference between the so called doctors and a hit squad.

People with ALS are fully conscious but lose all ability to move or talk. It is a living hell. Any doctor that will put everything at risk to help such a person shouldn't be compared to a "hit squad".

There are of course lot of things that are not known here, but appears to be much more about the ego of a unethical doctor proud to be able to fool the law and do whatever he wants without consequences than a genuine desire to help patients. Someone that is genuinely trying to change the situation for the good of the patients would not try to hide his participation or be so interested in how much profit he could get from it.

For a doctor ethical considerations are the very center of the professional life, there is no such thing as an absolute purpose that will justify any means to reach it. That is an extremely dangerous thing for a doctor to think and it has ended up in cases where "euthanasia" is performed for patients that still had hope of recovering to a productive life, I would not be surprised if investigations find up this has been the case with this doctor in the past.

The end result? the image of euthanasia becoming much worse and decades of work by real activists with genuine interest in the patients becoming trash, all for a single doctor that really appears to be too full of himself, I really hope this is not the case.

Murder for hire. There is no difference between the so called doctors and a hit squad.

Yeah, no difference between doctors who are looking to help people not be in pain and to have comfortable lives, and muderers who want people to die. None at all.

...she allegedly asked them to kill her for money.

Murder for hire. There is no difference between the so called doctors and a hit squad.

I tend to agree with euthanasia but funds should only be charged for actual expense, not profit.