As medical treatment makes rapid progress, it also becomes more complicated, carrying with it greater risk of accidents. To help improve safety and reduce mishaps in medical services, the government and medical institutions need to join hands to beef up a system introduced last year to probe unexpected deaths of patients without bringing criminal charges against the medical professionals involved.

Under the system, launched in October 2015 through a revision of the Medical Service Law after more than 10 years of discussions involving victims of medical accidents and their families, as well as doctors and lawyers, some 180,000 medical institutions across Japan are required to report unexpected deaths of patients during medical examinations and treatments to a third-party organization called the Japan Medical Safety Research Organization, carry out internal probes and submit the results to the organization.

The system is not aimed at determining possible criminal responsibility of the medical professionals involved. The investigation results are not to be reported to the police or public prosecutors. Medical institutions are required to explain the results to the families of deceased patients, but it is optional for each institution whether to provide the written reports in their entirety to the relatives. After receiving the results of the probes from hospitals and clinics, the organization is tasked with analyzing them and sharing relevant information to prevent similar incidents from happening again.