A certain person close to my family has recently undergone heart surgery in
Japan. For this person's privacy, I will call them Bill.

We were told that the surgery went well, and were relieved. That is, until a
couple days later when they admitted that they had accidentally left a
needle inside Bill's heart. I was a bit upset by the hospital's handling of
the matter, especially when they didn't want to "ichi ichi" explain the
situation to Bill's mother because "they already explained the situation to
Bill and Bill's sister."

Typical o-erai-san complex of Japanese doctors. So to put a little fear of
GAWD into him, I told him that if this was the United States, I would sue
this hospital out of existence and ensure that he never practiced medicine
again, and although I realized things are done differently in Japan,
transparency and accountability are still paramount, and the doctor thus has
an obligation to inform the patient/the patient's family of any problems
immediately, and to explain the situation to the satisfaction of all
concerned parties.

This appeared to change his thinking on the subject slightly, and he was a
bit more responsive after this (I think more than a lawsuit, he and the
hospital are quite rightly worried about negative press exposure -- they are
particularly vulnerable right now).

As I said the doctor turned around after a bit of the old gaiatsu, and
offered to support any actions by us to seek a second opinion (ie should
the needle be left in there, or should they open up Bill again and remove
it). One might rightly be suspicious of the motivations behind the medical
opinions of the doctor who left the needle in there in the first place!

But that's just the buildup to what really has me bum-fluckered astonished.
We phoned another hospital that treated Bill several years ago, explained
the situation, and said they could have access to all of Bill's records, and
speak directly with the doctors who are treating him, and that the doctor
had in fact suggested we seek a second opinion.

The hospital's response: we are not treating him presently, so we cannot
give any opinion. We suggest you follow the advice of the doctor who is
treating Bill.

Talk about a freaking code of silence! Heaven forbid that a doctor in Japan
should contradict the opinion of another doctor. People might stop thinking
that they are infallible. Well, if Bill didn't think this already, I think
losing a needle inside his heart probably clinched it.

We are not parents or siblings of Bill, so we want to leave what is
done up to them. Bill's brother thinks the solution is to demand an isharyou
of ~500,000 yen -- "that'll be a sign of their remorse." I personally have
no idea what a piece of chump-change like that is going to resolve, but
that's their decision to make.

-- 
Regards,
Ryan Ginstrom