Opinion Are Japanese Hospitals Safe Enough? By JULIET HINDELL	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
2001年2月2日付論説 最近、日本の病院で病院側の過失による 事故が相次いでいる。 100パーセントの安全を確保することは無理だが、 鳥取県の新生児連れ去りのような事故に関しては、 その防止法は簡単なのではないだろうか。

Japan's hospitals are getting a lot of bad press recently, baby snatching, killer nurses, doctors who can't read the instructions on dangerous drugs properly, and so on. It seems basic safety is being jeopardized on every level. But in one case, at least, there seems to be a pretty straightforward answer to the problem. When I read about a baby being snatched from a hospital recently in Tottori Prefecture my blood ran cold. Like any new mother I have had many vivid dreams in which my baby has somehow been kidnapped.

But to have your baby disappear from the hospital where it was born is perhaps the worst nightmare because most women assume that in the hospital they are safe and sound. This incident raises the question as to whether hospitals should have tighter security. Who knows what desperate emotions lead someone to take someone else's baby? Luckily, this time the story ended happily, the baby was found safe and well. The police took the high-tech precaution of posting instructions on care for new borns on a Web site. The page included advice on how much milk to give the baby and how to keep the baby warm. The idea of posting the information was quick thinking, even if it could not be guaranteed to reach the perpetrator.

But in my opinion, the hospital is also guilty in this incident. Reports I read said the nursery was "unattended" when the snatch took place. Even my baby-stroller could have told them that was stupid. When I bought it, it had a label stuck on it, which said in big letters "Never leave child unattended." That is a pretty basic concept in the care of new borns.

I'm not suggesting that to keep babies safe, hospitals need to introduce Draconian measures. Metal detectors or other searches are not necessary. This is true especially in Japan, where violent crime is still relatively rare. Even ID checks might seem a bit over the top in a place where people need access either for emergencies or to see their loved ones. But I don't think it is too much to ask that some member of the staff be on duty in the baby nursery at all times. In the Tokyo hospital where my baby was born, just about anyone could walk in off the street and wander around without being challenged. But if a stranger wearing street-clothes, unlike most mothers who have just had babies, walked into the nursery and picked up a baby, they would have been challenged.

Why? Not because there was a security guard posted at the door * although that might be an option. But because there was always a nurse on hand to look after the babies. After all, if no one is there, who is taking care of these brand-new human beings? Of course incidents like this happen all over the world and you can never guarantee safety 100 percent. But this seems to have been an outrageous lapse on the part of people who were supposedly responsible.

Shukan ST: Feb. 2, 2001

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