A panel of the health and welfare ministry on May 29 announced a draft of a system to investigate unexpected deaths in medical institutions. Under the proposed system, medical institutions will report all unexpected deaths that have happened during a medical treatment to a third-party organization as well as conduct their own investigations.
The proposal is a reasonable approach aimed at enhancing the transparency of medical institutions, and nurturing trust between patients and their relatives and medical institutions.
Data accumulated under the new system can also be expected to be used to help prevent unexpected deaths. The ministry plans to submit a bill to revise the Medical Service Law to the Diet next fall.