I was shocked recently to know that hospitals in Japan don’t allow parents to stay with their children overnight, no matter how old they are. If they want to stay they have to book expensive private rooms, and those are limited and mostly difficult to secure.
How do Japanese people find it normal to let their 1 or 2 year old children sleep alone and cry throughout the night? And how do hospitals justify the inhumane aspect of this issue?
Edit: It looks like the post hit a nerve, which is good. The fact that people tried so hard to cast doubt about what i said is enough evidence to show that such rules at many Japanese hospitals are inhumane.
Now for those who are still in shock because their image of “perfect Japan” was shaked, go check out the rules of Tokyo Tama Medical Center for children. Probably one of the largest hospitasl in Tokyo, if not the largest. And this is just one example.
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Not really.
My wife spend the night with my daughter 3yrs old for 3 nights when she was hospitalized. Slept together on the same bed, room with 4 beds, at that time 2 were occupied.
Wife took the night shift while I do the day time.
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>Inhumane aspect of this issue
Maybe this is just your image? If parents can’t stay, which for that age is very rare, the children’s ward nurses and caretakers are always present so babies are never left alone, just their parents might not be there. I can guarantee you no child is sitting there crying the whole night without comfort.
That said, most hospitals that specialize in children’s issues DO allow parents to stay. With COVID there have been increased rules like parents must take a PCR test. If parents are uncomfortable leaving their children alone doctors will gladly introduce a hospital where it is possible to stay.
Edit: Just to add about one special case: if a child is admitted to PICU sometimes it is impossible for parents to stay due to the level of care required by children in this area. These are often open areas with many patients in one area, not even rooms, all requiring an extremely advanced level of medical care. In this case even in adult ICU family members cannot stay.
Living in Japan with 4 kids. Wife has done many overnighters with our kids at hospitals.
Not a country wide matter. Could just be the hospitals or the type of illness even
We HAD to stay with our child overnight, doctors orders (and were happy to comply). It was a non-infectious issue so perhaps that is where there is a difference (which would make sense).
Different country but. When I was a little kid, I was left in hospitals multiple times alone for multiple days and overnights. I did not find it cruel and understood that it’s just what has to happen. Parents need to work and you get 3 meals a day while you are in there so its not that bad, just boring
I mean as everyone else has said, the statement ‘hospitals in Japan don’t allow parents to stay with their children overnight’ is just patently untrue. Anecdotally there may be instances when this has happened but it is definitely not the standard. My parents stayed with me when I was a child- even when I had surgeries even in high school. In specific cases, maybe with contagious diseases or where a parent’s presence can impede treatment, there may be times when they are asked not to but generally we are allowed to and do stay overnight with patients at the hospital.
What…? From where did you ‘know’ this?
Might want to show some sources for this.
I’m on my third hospital stay with my toddler within the past year, in a shared room mind you, and I’ve never seen a kid here without a parent staying with them. I’ve actually been happy to see many dads and not only moms.
Far from experience we had with consecutive hospitalizations with our one year old daughter with asthma and pneumonia. Two months in total, parent was expected to be there every night.
“Weird part of the ~~Japanese culture~~ *Individual Hospital rules/policies, which differ across the country, and dependent on infectious disease prevention plans, doctors orders etc.*
Parents let their toddlers sleep alone at hospitals.”
There ya go I fixed that for ya. You’re welcome.
Our daughter was in the hospital overnight as a precaution once. A parent was allowed to stay overnight.
Maybe don’t overgeneralize?
“Don’t argue with me using all these facts ‘n’ stuff”.
I started checking hospitals, some nearby, some in other areas of Japan.
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>付き添いについて
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>ご家族の希望により個室での付き添いができます。お部屋について確認されたい方はスタッフへお声掛け下さい。
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>付き添い者の方の食事は、病院配膳がありません。1日1回、コンビニエンスストアへ買い物を行うか、家族へお持ち込みの依頼をしてください。ベットサイドでお食事をしていただきますが、子どもには与えないでください。
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>付き添いについて
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>- 付き添いできるご家族は一度に一人までです。
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>ご家族の付き添い
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>- 付添の方には病棟で『付添証』を発行します。
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>- 付添の方は1名のみとなります｡（付添の方の食事は提供しておりません）
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>付き添いは、原則としてお一人とさせていただきますので、ご了承ください。
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Those were the first five hospitals I looked at. I’ve now looked at over 10, and **EVERY SINGLE ONE** had a policy covering parents staying with kids. Everyone is telling you they stayed with their kids, in the same bed even.
As hospital policy – I honestly think that it’s not the worst idea in the world to force adult parents to…you know, *not be sleeping in the same room as other children.* If anything I’m surprised more people aren’t freaked out about that. I can imagine hospital staff not wanting to find out some parent abused other kids while staying overnight when people aren’t around.
Some (probably all) hospitals *do not* allow parents when the child is in the ICU / GPU / NICU / PICU, which is as it should be. If your child is in one of those units, I’m sorry that your child is in need of urgent care, but parents / visitors absolutely should not be in those areas, both for your child’s sake and the sake of other patients in those urgent-care units.
I’d say there is a very high likelihood that you either misunderstood what was being said, there were no private rooms available, or your child is in one of those units where parents would never be allowed overnight, in Japan or any other country.
It’s not Japanese culture, it depends on each hospital LOL
It might be a covid thing. I did stay with my baby in the hospital years before Covid; in fact it was required for one of us to stay with her.
Not sure where you are from OP, but many hospitals in the world will not let a parent sleep inside the room chair, especially for long stays.
You need a bit more experience of the world before claiming something is Japanese or not.
>go check out the rules of Tokyo Tama Medical Center for children
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
[https://www.tmhp.jp/shouni/en/inpatients/visiting-patients.html](https://www.tmhp.jp/shouni/en/inpatients/visiting-patients.html)
Nursing during your stay will be carried out by nurses, so you will not require a chaperone. **However, if the circumstances of your medical condition have you preferring a family member as a chaperone, please consult with a doctor or nurse.**
OP: “The fact that people tried so hard to cast doubt about what i said is enough evidence to show that such rules at many Japanese hospitals are inhumane.”
Are you really saying that the fact that so many commenters provided evidence that undermines your gross generalization just proves you right? What would it take to convince you otherwise, I wonder?
For the record, on multiple hospitalizations at four different hospitals in Japan, my wife slept at our child’s bedside in all but one, and in that one case we were given an apartment room on hospital grounds.
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Literally every single poster here has told you that this is not ‘common’ or even ‘rare’. *Ample* evidence has been posted telling you that hospitals all have what appear to be reasonable policies.
**When the facts change, I change my mind. I wonder what you do.**
Bro, literally everyone has proved you wrong with proper evidences while you keep trying so hard to look like you aren’t entirely wrong, so that your ego can remain intact.
You realize that you’re only making more and more of a fool of yourself with every reply you’re making now?