Gunma University Hospital on Tuesday admitted negligence in the deaths of eight patients following laparoscopic liver surgery, faulting its staff for failing to look into early deaths and a surgeon for falsifying a record.
Between 2010 and 2014, eight people died within four months of undergoing surgery conducted by laparoscope by one surgeon at the national institution.
Hospital officials told a news conference that in the case of one of the patients who died following surgery to remove what was believed to be a cancerous growth, the tumor turned out to be nonmalignant.