An Exploratory Study on Information Manipulation by Doctors: Awareness, Actual State, and Ethical Tolerance.

(1) Background: To what extent is information manipulation by doctors acceptable? To answer this question, we conducted an exploratory study aimed at obtaining basic data on descriptive ethics for considering this issue. (2) Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on a large sample ( = 3305) of doctors. The participants were queried on (1) whether they consider that information manipulation is necessary (awareness), (2) whether they have actually manipulated information (actual state), and (3) their ethical tolerance.

Responsibility for reporting patient death due to hospital error in Japan when an error occurred at a referring institution.

In Japan, physicians are required to report unexpected health care-associated patient deaths to the police. Patients needing to be transferred to another institution often have complex medical problems. If a medical error occurs, it may be either at the final or the referring institution.

Why are autopsy rates low in Japan? Views of ordinary citizens and doctors in the case of unexpected patient death and medical error.

This article examines what could account for the low autopsy rate in Japan based on the findings from an anonymous, self-administered, structured questionnaire that was given to a sample population of the general public and physicians in Japan. The general public and physicians indicated that autopsy may not be carried out because: (1) conducting an autopsy might result in the accusation that patient death was caused by a medical error even when there was no error (50.4% vs.

Attitudes toward clinical autopsy in unexpected patient deaths in Japan: a nation-wide survey of the general public and physicians.

Context: Autopsy is a useful tool for understanding the cause and manner of unexpected patient death. However, the attitudes of the general public and physicians in Japan about clinical autopsy are limited.

Objective: To describe the beliefs of the general public about whether autopsy should be performed and ascertain if they would actually request one given specific clinical situations where patient death occurred with the additional variable of medical error.

Patient safety education at Japanese medical schools: results of a nationwide survey.

Background: Patient safety education, including error prevention strategies and management of adverse events, has become a topic of worldwide concern. The importance of the patient safety is also recognized in Japan following two serious medical accidents in 1999. Furthermore, educational curriculum guideline revisions in 2008 by relevant the Ministry of Education includes patient safety as part of the core medical curriculum.

Patient safety education at Japanese nursing schools: results of a nationwide survey.

Background: Patient safety education is becoming of worldwide interest and concern in the field of healthcare, particularly in the field of nursing. However, as elsewhere, little is known about the extent to which nursing schools have adopted patient safety education into their curricula. We conducted a nationwide survey to characterize patient safety education at nursing schools in Japan.

Attitudes regarding reporting healthcare-associated patient deaths to the police: A nationwide survey of physicians and RMs in Japanese teaching hospitals.

In Japan, healthcare professionals are required by Article 21 of the Medical Practitioner's Law to report "unnatural deaths" to the police in cases of healthcare-associated patient death. The attitudes of medical personnel at the forefront of clinical medicine regarding reporting have not been described. We investigate the attitudes of physicians and risk managers (RMs) regarding reporting to the police under different circumstances.

Attitudes toward autopsy in unexpected death: a nationwide survey of physicians and risk managers in Japanese teaching hospitals.

Context: Autopsy is a useful tool for understanding the manner and cause of death in unexpected patient death. The information about the opinions of physicians and risk managers in Japan regarding autopsy is limited.

Objective: To describe and evaluate the opinions of physicians and risk managers at Japanese teaching hospitals regarding forensic autopsy.

The acceptability of the decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment based on the living will and substituted judgements involving decision--the tendency of judiciary decisions and guidelines in Japan.

Recently in Japan, the topic of withdrawing life support is becoming increasingly urgent. The issue of living wills and surrogate decision makers in this process has received little attention. The purpose of this study is to examine recent judiciary decisions in Japan (criminal judgements) and recent guidelines regarding the decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment based on the living will or surrogate decisions by the patient's family members.