Hiroyuki Nagai

The compensation is to be paid by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the former head of the hospital and a doctor there.

Etsuko Nagai, 58, had surgery on her middle finger Feb. 10, 1999, at Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital in Shibuya Ward after checking in for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

The next day, a nurse mistakenly hooked up Nagai to an intravenous drip filled with disinfectant instead of a saline solution.

Hospital officials met to discuss the death the following day but waited 11 days before reporting it to police.

Presiding Judge Tasuku Daimon ruled that the former head of the hospital and the doctor should pay damages because they falsified the woman's medical records to make it appear as though she died of illness, even though an autopsy showed that the mistake in the drip was the probable cause of death.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 7, 2004
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