OTSU, Shiga Pref. (Kyodo) The Otsu District Court ordered the national government Monday to pay some 88 million yen in damages to the family of a man who died in 1991 after undergoing brain surgery at a public university hospital.
According to the malpractice suit filed by the family, the man, then 52, of Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, underwent medical procedures at Shiga University Hospital for treatment of a brain aneurysm.
According to the suit, the attending doctor failed to appropriately place a balloon in the dilated blood vessel in the brain and ruptured the vessel. The man stopped breathing on his own and died five days later.
In handing down the decision, presiding Judge Masanori Kanki said, "The physician in charge had failed to perform the duties required of him."
The man's family had originally asked for some 105 million yen in damages from the government, which runs the university.