Two weeks ago, I made a ‘controversial post in which many people told me that I was wrong and that I should accept Japan as it is. The link is as follows:
The nightmare of giving birth in Japan
by u/gtokai in japanlife
They led me to believe that I should have chosen a better hospital, and I even began to better accept all the generated inconvenience.
As I had reported, they forced my wife (who is 153cm tall) to persist with a natural birth until the last minute, even though they knew the baby was already over 4kg, which resulted in internal bleeding, requiring more than 10 internal stitches, in addition to vaginal tearing.
Almost a month later, my wife still felt pain when getting up, sitting down, moving, and urinating to the point where she couldn’t even hold the baby for long periods. At her last consultation two weeks ago, the doctor performed an ultrasound, said everything was fine, and prescribed antibiotics for a urinary infection (without conducting a local exam).
However, today, my wife felt a different pain while urinating and noticed a string coming out of her vaginal canal. When she pulled the string, a large gauze that the doctor had simply forgotten inside her body began to come out. It had been blocking her uterus, and upon removal, a foul odor filled the house, leaving her completely embarrassed and not knowing what to do. I promptly understood that it wasn’t her fault and called the hospital to report what had happened, and they asked us to come to the hospital.
Upon arrival, they wanted to perform a COVID test because my wife had a fever, even though I insisted that it would be strange if she didn’t have a fever at that moment (she had a temperature of 37.4°C, while according to the WHO, a fever starts at 37.5°C). We had to wait almost an hour for the doctor responsible for the stitches to arrive and attend to her himself. Throughout the consultation, he kept laughing, complimenting the baby (whom I had to bring with me), and telling us not to worry.
When he showed the blood test results, I noticed his hand was shaking. Before leaving, the nurse informed us to return to the hospital in three days to pay for the consultation (yes, they want to charge us for emergency care for a problem they caused).
In my country, this would be considered medical negligence and would result in enough compensation to buy another new house. Right now, I am not thinking about the money, but I cannot let this go, as my family’s suffering has been too severe since the birth.
What are your opinions? Has anyone experienced this before? Have you witnessed medical errors? I have personally witnessed several instances when translating for a Brazilian woman who did not speak Japanese and experienced abdominal pain. The doctor had her take medicine for colic for two months before giving up and going to Brazil, where a new examination revealed stage III intestinal cancer. But I’ll save that story for another time.
I want to make it clear that I like Japan, respect its culture, and strive to adapt to it as much as possible. Unfortunately, I still cannot deal well with some problems that could easily be avoided if it were not for Japan.
38 comments
I hope your wife gets better and nothing bad happens. I would definitely talk to a lawyer about it and I hope you tell us what happens and what legal recourse should we have situations like this.
Oh man, sorry for wife and you; definitely, that’s abnormal and you shouldn’t feel the need to blend in and accept the situation as it is. It’s the other way around, I feel you were mistreated
You chose a new hospital or the same one? either way lawyer up and sue.
I hope your wife feels better. I’m currently in the hospital too and can’t help be upset because… rather not talk about it. Anyway, I am so sorry about what happened.
Stop consulting Reddit and consult a lawyer if you think you have a case. It’s impossible for anyone to say what is or isn’t a medical error for your case without more information.
I hope your wife recovers quickly, and I wish good health for your baby.
Oh man. What a horror story. I hope your wife feels better. And that goes for you as well.
Regarding criticizing Japan: every place has its faults. And criticism should be welcomed. I take great pride in bitching about everything no matter where I am 😂
But some refuse to have their utopian bubble burst…
Sorry you and your family went through this. Thanks for sharing on Reddit but the only advice you should take from here is: consult a lawyer.
Good luck.
Definitely speak with a lawyer. I had two births, both with complications (one that could’ve been fatal), and my care was excellent. A lawyer will know if this is actionable. Even if it isn’t, make sure your wife knows that she doesn’t need to accept this. There are amazing doctors and midwives in Japan, you just have to shop around.
I feel for you and your wife. Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum are already SUCH sensitive times, even when you have competent and compassionate care (which you did not!).
I am so sorry that you and your wife have had to deal with this trauma.
I had a baby this year, too. I truly doubted my ability to get the level of care I needed from a hospital, so we had a home birth instead. I’m grateful it saved me from something like this, but so sad to hear every traumatic birth story.
OP, many blessings on your new family. I hope your wife recovers wholly and you both can get healing and closure.
I am so sorry your wife went through this. We as a family went through a very similar situation at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2013, except for the gauze part. Why doctors are happy to see a patient suffer instead of doing a c-section is just beyond my comprehension. I hope your wife heals quickly physically and emotionally.
Mate I’m confident that if that doctor cannibalised your baby in front of you while hospital staff played the taiko there would be spergs here fervently defending both him and Japan, don’t worry about what people here think.
You were definitely hit with some very bad luck there. I feel four you and your wife going through this nightmare. (Maybe consider getting therapy to work through the trauma down the line.)
Glad your wife has someone who fights for her by her side.
As a woman I cannot imagine giving birth here unless the doctor speaks English and has studied abroad for several years. Many horrible doctors in Japan who dismiss women pain.
For your wife’s sake please contact a lawyer and sue.
My wife 155cm had a big baby too with some complications, she was “sewn” too and now she have to take pills ad eternam or else she bleeds inside the body and it is extremely painful.
Just telling you for a headup of what may awaits you wife, stay strong in supporting her, she will need it.
I have a friend who was hit by a car in Japan and sued. Sadly the friend is still fighting to get the money and compensation for everything this person did to my friend. My friend sued and the person who hit her only offered to pay 4000 USD.. my friend is suing again.. it’s been years
Record your wife’s symptoms and consult an attorney.
If it is medical error, it should be a problem.
But the hospital will never admit it. So you will have to go to court.
Mate every comment in the previous thread told you that you need a new hospital or at the very least a new doctor and not to hang it on the whole country.
You went to the same hospital to see the same doctor who you know has issues and somehow expected to get a better experience out of it?
Why bother posting at all if you’re not going to at least read what others are telling you.
I would in your place, happily sue the asshole ‘medical professional’ that did this. If it were not for the avoidable mistakes which are frankly pure neglect, it would be for the horrific attitude that comes with them. This type of people should not have a job involving women at the most vulnerable time in their lives and I hope you have a case. Also insisting on a COVID test when your patient has a fever as a result of your severe mistakes that could have left her in a very danger state, wtf.
This sucks and I’m sorry for your wife most of all but really your post should read “The Nightmare of Giving Birth in なんとか Hospital.”
Who picked the hospital? The rules should have been clear before, at least that’s what I thought.
2 kids born here, one at a large hospital and one at a midwifery clinic. Both amazing experiences. Both pretty far from where we lived…but that was the choice that was best for us. We did the “shopping around” for the right place with the right “rules” for us. I wanted to be present for everything, visiting hours amenable, the relationship between mom and doctor, food, etc.
A lot of due diligence that can and needs to be done.
Wishing you both a speedy recovery and resolve to this bad situation.
Talk to a lawyer and the 医者会 for your city. It’s fairly easy to get compensated for something like this, and they will make the doctor apologize.
Still, your situation is not the norm. Not everyone in this country has a terrible experience.
Sounds like your wife needs to go on antibiotics and be monitored for infection, especially if she has a fever?I’m so sorry this happened.
Her fever might have been the beginning of toxic shock syndrome. I’m surprised she wasn’t seriously ill after having a gauze inside her for multiple weeks.
I’m sorry your wife is not feeling well and having so many bad experiences. I hope your new baby is doing well.
If you have a fever, even a low grade one or close to it, they will perform a COVID test. Think about it, the doctor who saw your wife will go on to see other pregnant women and newborn children. Would you feel safe if your doctor was seeing patients who had fevers?
This is not a Japan thing. If you had a bad experience to begin with why didn’t you find a different doctor? Japan has good and bad doctors just like anywhere else including your own country. There are good and bad stories just like anywhere else.
This really sucks to read about. I’m sorry for your family’s troubles and hope your wife makes a strong recovery, and the doctor/hospital in charge is raked across the coals.
I had an awful experience a year ago where I returned from my home country and developed a severe chest infection a few days later. I performed three covid tests at separate times. The local clinic refused to see me but still charged me for the visit and insisted i get another covid test. A respiratory clinic in my neighborhood (where i was living in shizuoka) did well to notice i had an infection and prescribed a weak antibiotic that worked for one day but after completing the course, the infection worsened. By this point i was back in Tokyo for work and had a to call an ambulance to the hotel i was staying in. No hospital would admit me and the ambulance staff returned me to the hotel and told me to get a COVID test in the morning. The next day i coughed up blood and had Japanese friends call to any clinic in the area i was staying and none would accept me “because of covid, we are not accepting new patients.” I called another ambulance and was taken to a hospital in ueno where the nurse began yelling at me for coming to a hospital with a respiratory infection and for coughing. After three hours of lying in a bed the doctor came in and said “you are clearly very sick, your white blood cell count is incredibly high, but unfortunately this is a busy hospital and we cannot help you.” For the first time, i began to cry out of frustration and begged for a strong antibiotic similar to one I had taken for a similar infection back home 10 years previously. He relented and gave me enough for two days and in two days i was better. But the doctor bill was over 30,000… I was in absolute disbelief.
Consult a lawyer. Stop typing up long stories here. No one here is gonna be helpful
>> In my country, this would be considered medical negligence and would result in enough compensation to buy another new house.
No it’s not. Sure you may get some compensation, but “enough to buy a new house”? Lol. I understand that it’s a medical error from the doctor and you have the right to be angry but don’t make up shit.
Jumping on the “you need a lawyer” train. That’s what you need to do right away. And you may even want to delete this and your previous thread for the safety of your case. If the defense ties these threads to you, who knows how they can twist statements you made in a stressful moment.
So your story, whilst distressing for both you and your partner, is not unusual in any country. One reason is because childbirth is a dangerous experience.
From what I can understand:
– Japan doesn’t have the same culture of c- section as the West. Our 30% rate of cs is not the norm in other countries. Their ethos is to push hard for a vaginally delivery, without epidural, to avoid the complications that CS brings to future pregnancy. (Addit: Japan’s CS rate is about 15% because they think it’s best for mother, in the Western private hospitals in the litigious places the rate would be more than 50%)
– unfortunately the combination of small woman and big baby lead to difficulty and hence the high grade tear and bleeding.
– if they repaired the tear in the operating theatres, then they would have done a count of every item, and nothing would have been left behind. I guess they did the repair in the birthing unit and so didn’t do a count which is why one was left in. That would have caused the infection.
Everything except for the leftover gauze is actually not so rare. Labour and delivery can be brutal. IMHO I think things could have been done differently but i wasn’t there and the reality is that this is what can happen during childbirth, and it could have been much worse. The good things are that both mum and baby are alive, and mum still has her fertility and bladder and bowel function.
I am sorry to hear what your wife has been going through. Your first post was bad, and this one is also pretty bad. Nothing to defend in either of them.
My Japanese partner had a horrible treatment by a backwarded Japanese doctor, and now he goes to American hospital. I know a Japanese woman who was worried that Japanese doctors will insist on natural birth without any pain relief, so went to American hospital instead. I have regular doctor visits with a foreigner doctor. A friend of mine got a call wrong diagnosis for a serious condition as well.You are not the only one who does not trust Japanese doctors and medical system.
OP I remember commenting on your post. What happened and what still is happening to your wife is regrettable.
I had the direct opposite encounter and amazing service but each hospital and even the daily staff is different. It seems like you got a nightmare of a place.
While your experience doesn’t seem the norm, it doesn’t make it any less dissatisfying. I suggest talking to a lawyer about medical malpractice.
Also, I wouldn’t hang it all up on all of Japan. The hospital was bad and should face consequences. I hope if there is another baby in the future the next hospital treats your wife and family with respect.
It’s not Japan. It’s your shitty doctor.
I sincerely hope your wife will be fine. But… This post is wrong on so many levels. If a patient has fever and even if there is an another obvious reason for it, he or she may still have Covid. If hospital is required to test patients for Covid on arrival and they are not in a life threatening situation, there is nothing wrong it test the patient for Covid. And even then, why are you surprised? You went to the same place you complained about in the previous post, and now you’re surprised that you got a bad treatment AGAIN? Stop posting on Reddit and think better next time.
Did people tell you to research hospitals? Yes. And this story reinforces that advice. Hope your wife is doing well.
The only people who told you “you were wrong and should accept Japan as it is” werewere troll accounts.
So when things calm down, do the research people suggested you do. Remember, extra time on the road beats what your wife went through. Talk about it together.
As someone who’s lived in both Japan and the U.S., the birth experience broadly sounds far better in Japan. Reading this having gone back home to the U.S. and thinking about family planning, I see a lot to envy actually.
I’m impressed that women get to stay in the hospital for several days after the birth in Japan. That sounds awesome. Highly preferable to the U.S.’s method of dumping people right back home.
In the U.S., having medical care depending on your circumstances can be a risk factor for financial ruin. Just giving birth itself can be financially crushing.
What happened to your wife is a nightmare and the responsibility of that particular care team.
Medical malpractice obviously happens around the world. Though the U.S. is stupidly expensive, we do have one of the most advanced medical care systems, and of course it still happens here. Take this example of a [fertility clinic that put women through surgery without pain medication](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/insider/the-reverberations-of-pain-and-its-dismissal.html), because a nurse was secretly stealing fentanyl to feed her addiction.
Hi, I’m working as nurse in japan and I’m so shocked that it actually happened. It sounds like you should report that hospital to the police. If you really are going to report it, you should obtain some paperwork which is saying your wife’s medical situation that is called 診断書. I think it will help you guys to bring this case in the action. Hospital should have not even charged you. This is horrible. I am really sorry this happened to your wife. I’m on your side. Don’t let this case behind.
1. Consult another doctor/hospital for your wife’s care until she’s recovered from the birth. Please stop going to the same place when you have zero trust in their care. Hopefully they will also recommend physical therapy for your wife since her pelvic floor is no doubt struggling right now.
2. Consult a lawyer instead of reddit. Way beyond the pay grade of common people, really sincerely hope you took photo evidence of everything.
Finally, please advocate for your wife’s medical care or encourage her to be more vocal and adamant about it. Women generally get talked over and have their symptoms dimished no matter what country they’re in. It’s a sexism thing, not just a shitty Japanese phenomenom.
Here are some medical questions I would ask my hospital/birth center before paying any kind of deposit to give birth there.
– What type of pain management is available? Is there an anesthesiologist on call 24/7? What does the procedure for an epidural look like? Please walk me through it.
– What situations during a vaginal birth will result in an emergency c-section? How long will I be allowed to push before it’s considered too dangerous/tiring for mom and baby (generally it’s 4 hrs)? What does the procedure for the emergency c-section look like? Please walk me through it. What kind of pain management will I be given before the emergency c-section? Will someone ensure that I am fully numb before the procedure starts (learn the difference between an epidural/spinal block/general anesthesia)? Will my arms be strapped down or will I be unrestrained?
– Under what circumstances would an OBGYN recommend birth assisting tools such as forceps or clamps during a vaginal birth?
– What are the episiotomy rate for the doctors at this hospital? Can I refuse this procedure? *I made it very clear in my birth plan that I did not a preventative episiotomy (very prevalent in Japan) and most of my birth was done for by a midwife but if my OBGYN took over I knew it would be for either an episiotomy/birth assist tools/emergency c-section/stitches since there’s a distinction in what a midwife can and cannot do.
– What kind of aftercare am I expecting to see after I leave the hospital? What kind of symptoms would be alarming to see after I leave the hospital?
I can’t really think of anything else atm, but these were some of the questions I asked before I gave birth. Birth is a huge medical event so please try to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible. I hope this helps anyone about to give birth.
1. Ask the hospital for a complete copy of the medical record
2. Make detailed records yourself
3. Go to the ward office and ask for advice what to do about medical malpractice. There is a procedure.
4. If you get brickwalled, get a lawyer. Japan bla bla, but Japanese people sue doctors, too.
Good luck!