Government support for homecare for the elderly has not prevented incidents of so-called "homecare murder," the Mainichi has learned.
In 2008, about half the victims of "homecare murder," or the murder of elderly house-bound patients by family members, were part of the homecare system, under which the nursing care insurance system covers 90 percent of homecare costs for those eligible. Rather than a decline in cases of homecare killings since the elderly care insurance system went into effect in 2000, the Mainichi has determined that such cases have in fact become more common in recent years.
For the period from 2006-2008, the Mainichi reported on 97 cases of homecare murder or homecare murder-suicide (not including failed attempts); more than 30 incidents per year. In 1999, just before the present elderly care system, including homecare support, came into effect, there were 21 homecare killings, or around 10 less than in each of the past three years.
One case of note is that of one 77-year-old patient in Ibaraki Prefecture who asked to die. The bed-ridden patient was cared for by a homecare specialist six days a week. However, the tasks of changing the man's diapers during the night and fixing his meals fell to his wife, also 77. When her knees began to ache from the chores, her husband asked for one last favor.
"Please kill me."
She carried out his request, giving rise to an impulsive murder.
According to Mainichi reports for the past three years, 70 cases, or nearly 70 percent, of homecare murders were committed by men. The continuing trend toward the nuclear family in Japan, and the associated considerable rise in male providers of home care, form the backdrop to the high numbers of male perpetrators.
SOURCE: Mainichi News Japan
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