Toyama Prefecture is investigating two deaths at a municipal hospital in Kamiichi in April and May, believed to have been caused by medical malpractice, prefectural government officials said Thursday.
An 87-year-old woman died of pneumonia in April after being given an erroneous blood transfusion in February, while a 69-year-old male cancer patient died in May after a postsurgery abdominal tube damaged an artery, causing massive bleeding, the officials said.
Kamiichi Kosei Hospital admitted giving the woman the wrong type of blood.
The municipal government assumed responsibility and imposed pay cuts and other punitive measures against hospital director Tadashi Kubo and several nurses on March 30.