In late May, 1,041 former obstetrics patients of 28 medical facilities submitted a plea to the National Consumer Affairs Center (NCAC) to arbitrate a settlement with the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC) that would partially refund money they had paid during their pregnancies for insurance purposes. The JCQHC is a foundation that carries out third-party evaluations of hospitals and clinics, but it also oversees a special compensation system enacted by the government in 2009 to protect obstetricians from career-threatening malpractice suits.
The system allows for a form of insurance that all obstetrics patients, meaning pregnant women, pay into. If a fetus or baby suffers brain damage before or during delivery, the insurance pays up to ¥30 million in damages over the next 20 years to the child and his or her parents. This no-fault insurance system was put in place because fewer medical students were opting to become obstetricians, partially because the dwindling birthrate has made obstetrics less profitable, but mainly because malpractice awards in the cases of babies born with disabilities have been extremely high. It was just too financially risky to go into the field.
Unless a pregnancy threatens the well-being of the mother, childbirth is not covered by national health insurance. Though in theory the obstetrics insurance is optional, if a pregnant woman patronizes a medical facility that pays into the insurance system (meaning 99.8 percent of them) they automatically charge her the ¥30,000 premium and incorporate it into her bill. What complicates the matter is the so-called "public aspect" of the system, according to a recent article in Aera magazine.