Kiwi’s death triggers Japan campaign

AUCKLAND: The brother of a New Zealand man who died in a Japanese psychiatric hospital has helped launch a campaign against the increasing use of physical restraints there.

Kelly Savage (27), an English teacher who was living in Japan, died in the hospital near Tokyo after being admitted because he was suffering a mental illness relapse.

Older brother Pat Savage (32), who lives in Japan, said he was with Mr Savage when nurses put waist, leg and wrist restraints on him, despite his having calmed down.

Mr Savage spent most of the next 10 days strapped to his bed until he suffered a heart attack and died seven days later, his brother said.

An autopsy was inconclusive on the cause of death, but a doctor at a second hospital suspected his long period of physical restraint could have helped trigger his cardiac arrest.

Helping launch a campaign group this week including psychiatric patients, lawyers and academics, Pat Savage said his family was not considering legal action but urged a change in practice, Reuters reported.

‘‘We thought the restraint was inhumane and unnecessary in Kelly’s case, but we had no idea it could cause Kelly’s cardiac arrest,’’ Pat told a Tokyo news conference.

Reuters reported the latest Japanese government figures showed in 2014 there were 10,862 psychiatric patients under physical restraint, a twofold rise from a decade ago. That was despite an 11% drop in overall patient numbers.

Kyorin University professor Toshio Hasegawa told the news conference restrained patients were strapped down for 96 days on average.

This compared with several hours to several tens of hours in many other countries, he said.

‘‘What I would like to ask you first is to think about the feelings of those who are dying while under physical restraint.’’ — NZN