Regarding the issue of a patient who was admitted to Kobe Tokushukai Hospital in Kobe City and died in September last year, treatment for his chronic diabetes was temporarily not being provided, Kobe City has requested that the hospital comply with the Medical Care Act. I understand that they have decided to issue an improvement order.
The hospital received administrative guidance from the city last year over the death of another inpatient.
According to Kobe City, a man in his 70s who was infected with the new coronavirus and hospitalized at Kobe Tokushukai Hospital in Tarumi Ward, Kobe City, was transferred to a university hospital as his pneumonia worsened, and his symptoms subsequently improved. He returned to Tokushukai Hospital, but died 10 days later in mid-September last year.
Although his medical records indicated that he had diabetes, his attending physician, the director, overlooked it, and treatment such as insulin was not administered until the day of his death.
The hospital held an in-house medical safety committee meeting to examine the response, but it did not come to a conclusion more than a month after the death, and the city believes that sufficient verification was not conducted.
Regarding Kobe Tokushukai Hospital, several patients who received catheter treatment died, and the city issued administrative guidance in August last year demanding improvements, citing problems with the safety management system. Since there has been no improvement since then, the company has decided to issue an improvement order based on the Medical Care Act by the end of January.
According to Hyogo Prefecture, this is the first time in the prefecture that an improvement order based on the Medical Care Act has been issued.