Loading...
Punishing paternalism
Miyasaka, Michio
Miyasaka, Michio
Author(s)
Author(s) (Additional)
Illustrator(s)
Producer(s)
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s) (Other)
Editor(s)
Advisor(s)
Contact(s)
Data Collector(s)
Keywords
GE Subjects
Collections
Files
Loading...
ejaib_19_20091.pdf
Adobe PDF, 283.58 KB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Online Access
Abstract
Leprosy (Hansen's disease) has been associated with a deep stigma that dates back to ancient history. Japan‟s leprosy control policy exemplifies the ethical questions this disease evokes in the context of human rights in modern medicine. This paper explores the history of Japanese leprosy control policy which started during its rapid modernization in the late 19th century and continued until 1996. I argue that the responsibility of the medical profession for development of the overall control policy which resulted a mass human rights violation. Japanese leprosy control policy can be interpreted as four powers given to the medical profession: 1) forced isolation, 2) sterilization, 3) forced labor, and 4) arbitrary punishment. Japanese leprologists considered forced isolation necessary, even after sulfone drugs became widely available and the international medical community suggested that forced isolation should be abolished. Male patients who wished to marry had to undergo vasectomy, and pregnant female patients were forced to have abortions. Patients with milder symptoms were assigned heavy labor, which may have exacerbated their condition. Leprosarium directors were empowered to arrest and punish disobedient patients without court order. Records show that 22 of 92 persons imprisoned in Jukambo, a special leprosarium facility for the most severe punishments, died in confinement. In the landmark Kumamoto judgment in 2001, the court ruled that forced isolation was not justifiable after it became medically unnecessary, since at least the 1960s. However, the other three troubling aspects of the control program were left unquestioned, even though those would be much more difficult to justify. Furthermore, the lawsuit was filed against the country, and no individual responsible for the establishment and continuation of the policy was prosecuted.
Note(s)
Topic
Type
Article
Date
2009-07
Identifier
ISBN
DOI
Copyright/License
With permission of the license/copyright holder