A woman who had a stillborn birth and her husband filed a lawsuit Friday seeking 35.5 million yen against a maternity clinic in Shiga Prefecture and its head for giving her a banned drug in 2000 when she was pregnant.
The clinic's director instructed a nurse over the phone to administer the banned medication diclofenac sodium on Sept. 28, 2000, to Kumiko Ijichi, 33, who was over nine months pregnant, to reduce her fever, according to the lawsuit filed with the Otsu District Court by Ijichi and her 39-year-old husband, Yukihiko.
The government in November 1999 ban use of the painkiller for treating flu infections and pregnant women because of its potentially deadly side effects on fetuses. The health ministry ordered the drug's instructions to be revised to acknowledge the side effects.
The maternity clinic acknowledged it was aware of the ban but claimed it felt the medicine would reduce the mother's fever and pose no threat to the baby, the couple said.
The clinic on Friday stated: "There were some other possible reasons for the death. We want to identify them in court."