The Tokyo District Court ruled Thursday that the government has a duty to provide full medical treatment to anyone detained for criminal trial, awarding 1.2 million yen in damages to a stroke victim who did not promptly receive surgery while being held.
The victim, 54-year-old Hiroshi Hisatsune, and his father filed a 37.5 million yen damages suit against the government. They claimed that the delay in transferring Hisatsune to a hospital from a Tokyo detention center caused him to suffer lasting effects, including partial paralysis.
Hisatsune, standing trial at the same court for trespassing, had trouble speaking at the detention center on the morning of April 1, 2001. A doctor there suspected he had suffered a stroke and transferred him to a hospital for surgery the next day.
Presiding Judge Tsuyoshi Ono said the doctor should have promptly transferred him to the hospital.
The court awarded damages over the mental anguish Hisatsune suffered during the delay, rejecting a direct relationship between the delay and the effects of the stroke.