Yokohama, Japan: Several suspicious deaths in Oguchi Hospital - deliberate poisoning suspected - 46 deaths since July 2016

[alert]

I've been aware of this story for several days, but it looked like a simple homicide until now. NHK World TV is also reporting several other deaths on the same floor of the hospital are under investigation:


Published Date: 2016-09-28 19:35:54
Subject: PRO/EDR> Hospital supply contamination - Japan: IV bags
Archive Number: 20160928.4522894
HOSPITAL SUPPLY CONTAMINATION - JAPAN: IV BAGS
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Date: 27 Sep 2016
Source: Japan Today [edited]
https://www.japantoday.com/category/..._2016-09-27_PM


A surfactant compound that police believe was used to kill 2 elderly male patients at a hospital in Yokohama may have been injected into intravenous drip bags through holes made in their rubber plugs, investigative sources said Tuesday [27 Sep 2016].

Police found small holes in seals on the rubber plugs of multiple unused drip bags stored at a nurses' station at Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama's Kanagawa Ward, the sources said.

The police suspect the latest finding could indicate serial murders targeting unspecified patients.

SN and NY, both 88, died of poisoning in the hospital on 18 and 20 Sep 2016, respectively, after medical drips were administered.

There were no apparent holes or ruptures in medical drip bags attached to NY, in whose body a surfactant compound was found in an autopsy, the sources said.

Hospital officials brought all of the drip bags that were to be used during a 3-day weekend ending 19 Sep 2016 to the nurses' station on the 4th floor on the morning of 17 Sep 2016, according to the investigative sources.

In the wake of NY's death, the police checked around 50 drip bags that had not been used and discovered holes in seals on the rubber plugs of some of the bags, the sources said.

NY died on 18 Sep 2016 after a nurse found his heart rate was falling around 4:50 p.m. that day, according to the police. He was hospitalized on 13 Sep 2016.

The hospital initially concluded he died of illness. But the police decided to conduct an autopsy on his body after NY was found to have died of poisoning last week. The 2 patients had been confined to their beds and medical drips including a nutrition supplement had been administered.

The police are examining the inside of some of the drip bags attached to SN, although no holes were found, according to the sources.

The police have detected a surfactant compound in one of the drip bags attached to NY that is of the same composition as that contained in disinfectant stored at the nurses' station on the 4th floor.

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Communicated by:
Karyn Bishoff


[To find this many holes in the rubber stopper of the bags looks very deliberate. The next question is who had access to the closet of cleaning supplies as well as access to the patient IV fluids?

The article does not tell us what kind of surfactant was found. Surfactant has a very broad definition. Surfactants are compounds capable of lowering the surface tension between liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants. Soap can function as a surfactant. There are so many compounds or combinations of compounds in a cleaning closet that it would be impossible to speculate on which one or ones could have been added to a bag of fluids.

We hope a full investigation will provide illumination into what the surfactant was as well as catching the perpetrator. - Mod.TG

[alert]

Published Date: 2016-10-05 19:35:12
Subject: PRO/EDR> Hospital supply contamination - Japan (02): IV bags
Archive Number: 20161005.4539229
HOSPITAL SUPPLY CONTAMINATION - JAPAN (02): IV BAGS
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Date: Sat 30 Sep 2016
Source: Japan Today [edited]

https://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/hospital-personnel-may-be-behind-patient-poisonings-46-deaths-on-same-floor-since-july?utm_campaign=jt_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jt_newsletter_2016-09-30_PM

Police increasingly suspect that the killing of 2 patients at a hospital in Yokohama may have been conducted by a person connected with the hospital and with some medical knowledge, investigative sources said Thursday [29 Sep 2016].

The person may also have randomly sought to tamper with intravenous drips, because some 10 unused drip bags were found with small holes, in a possible sign someone tried to inject into them surfactant compound, which police believe was used to kill the 2 patients.

A week has passed since the police began a full-fledged investigation into the cases that took place at Oguchi Hospital, but who and for what reason the intravenous drips had been tampered with remain a mystery.

Sources close to the matter said the hospital has recorded the deaths of 46 more inpatients since July 2016 who had stayed on the 4th floor where the 2 victims were.

There were some days around mid-August 2016 and mid-September 2016 when 4 or 5 people died, but Oguchi Hospital could not confirm any hospital infections and thought the reason was because it had been accepting more seriously ill patients, the sources said.

The hospital in Yokohama's Kanagawa Ward has 85 beds and specializes in internal medicine, orthopedics, and rehabilitation for the elderly. It has also been accepting more patients in the terminal phase of their illnesses.

Police will investigate the deaths of the patients but are unlikely to be able to specify the causes, because many of the bodies have already been cremated.

"We see many people pass away due to the nature of this hospital but had the impression that the number of those dying was increasing a bit," a hospital official said.

It was not immediately known how the figures compare with deaths in other hospitals catering to patients with similar diseases or at a similar stage of life.

The hospital 1st alerted the police about the possibility that intravenous drips had been tampered with on 20 Sep 2016. The police have so far determined that 2 88-year-old male patients were poisoned to death.

Investigators did not notice holes on the intravenous drip bags the 2 patients had used, but they discovered holes in the seals on the rubber plugs in about 10 of the 50 unused bags kept at a nurses' station on the 4th floor of the hospital.

A nurse who works at a hospital in Tokyo told Kyodo News that expertise is needed to inject chemicals into drip bags, while an investigative source said: "It's difficult to imagine a situation that an outsider entered the nurse station and tampered (with the drip bags)."

The 2 patients died around the 3-day weekend that began on 17 Sep 2016 and when the number of hospital staff on duty was less than usual. At night, the entrance of the hospital was locked with security guards on service to prevent outsiders from entering.

Surface acting agents are widely used in hospitals as disinfectants but can be poisonous to the human body and are not allowed to be administered orally.

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Communicated by:
Karyn Bischoff


[Indeed, these deaths are suspicious. The ones early on in August and September 2016 may signal that the activity had been occurring for some time before it was noticed. This investigation may take some time, but we hope the perpetrator will be found. - Mod.TG