Japan grapples with high rates of ‘carer killings’ made worse by pandemic isolation
- ‘Caregiver fatigue’ may have worsened in Japan as Covid isolation compounded the desperation of untrained family members trying to provide home care
- The pandemic had stretched Japan’s healthcare system close to breaking point and there was inadequate help available for people being cared for at home
Every eight days in the decade to 2021, an average of one elderly Japanese person was killed by a member of their own family or committed suicide after killing a relative they were caring for, according to a study released this month.
The alarming statistics on what is being termed “caregiver fatigue” may have worsened in subsequent years, an academic has suggested, as enforced isolation during the coronavirus pandemic compounded the desperation of untrained family members trying to care for relatives with debilitating illnesses in their own homes.
Similarly, the study only noted fatalities brought on by the stress of looking after an ailing relative and there are likely to have been many more undocumented incidents that did not end up in a death, said Etsuko Yuhara, a professor of social welfare at Nihon Fukushi University in Aichi Prefecture and author of the research.
Yuhara used media sources to identify 443 deaths in 437 cases of murder or suicide among people aged 60 or older who required nursing care in the 10 years to 2021. Spouses accounted for 214 of the cases, and the children of elderly people carried out 206 attacks. Some 13 cases involved a sibling killing a brother or sister, seven were of a grandchild killing a grandparent, and the remaining deaths involved other family members.
“There are two major reasons for these killings and related suicides,” Yuhara told This Week in Asia. “The first is the heavy burden of caring for a family member and the other is relationships within families.”
The numbers did not surprise Yuhara as her research revealed a high frequency of elderly people who were also primary care providers to a husband or wife, but who were isolated and became increasingly distressed as economic, physical or emotional stresses gradually took their toll.
