Japan Elderly Care Are Increasingly Killing Off Aged Population To Cut Costs In What’s Being Called ‘Caregiver Fatigue’

Earlier this month a new report was published by Etsuko Yuhara, a professor of social welfare at Nihon Fukushi University in Aichi Prefecture, which revealed that there was a murder-suicide or killing of an individual aged 60 and older in Japan every eight days by relatives with this so-called “caregiver fatigue,” or by very cynical attitudes towards the future in the decade up to 2021.

Yuhara analyzed ten years worth of news reports compiled from across the country, finding at least 443 fatalities in 437 such cases. She believes they would be even higher had non-fatal cases had been included.

The Mainichi, a Japanese newspaper, wrote: ‘By relationship, spouses accounted for 214 cases, while parents and their children, including in-laws, comprised 206. Thirteen were siblings, seven were grandparent and grandchild, and three were otherwise related. In as many as some 65% of cases, both those requiring care and their caregivers were over the age of 60.’

Further examining wills and statements, and other court documents, Yuhara discovered that ‘in recent years were cases of aging caregivers who had become economically, physically or emotionally stuck or were alone in their distress. Hopeless for the future, these caregivers had evidently decided to kill their loved ones and take their own lives,’ the paper added.

These numbers provide a glimpse into a growing that is hard to manage and keep track of, as local municipalities do not have the adequate ability to monitor just how systemic the issue truly is.

There are two major reasons for these killings and related suicides. The first is the heavy burden of caring for a family member and the other is relationships within families.

I was not so shocked at the results of the research. The same reasons are still there and this is not changing over time.

Yuhara told This Week in Asia.

Yoko Tsukamoto, a professor of infection control at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, according to South China Morning Post, said, “The problem of ‘carer killings’ has been around for a while in Japan, but I do sense that it got worse during the coronavirus lockdowns. People who were probably already struggling to cope were all of a sudden completely isolated and had no one to talk to about the problems they were facing.”

I’ve heard of sons and daughters giving up their jobs to live with their elderly parents but struggling, especially when it is someone with dementia, for example. But when the cost of inpatient care at a proper facility is so expensive, lots of families just do not have a choice.

She said

Indian-based Wion also highlighted how earlier this month a 86-year-old man murdered his wife 81 years, because his wife’s health was retreating. Other cases of family members abandoning and dumping their elderly family members at parks and other venues is growing also.

Moreover, The Mainichi wrote: ‘As well, the National Police Agency in its annually published crime statistics includes “nursing and care fatigue” as a motive for murder and assault resulting in death. However, as the data does not differentiate by age, it was difficult to grasp specifics such as how many of these incidents involved elder care…