High Court recognizes nurse’s death from overwork as work-related

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

High Court recognizes nurse’s death from overwork as work-related

The Osaka High Court on October 30 ordered the government to pay about 12.6 million yen in compensation, which includes lump-sum benefits, to the bereaved family of a hospital nurse who died at 25 years of age from overwork.

Murakami Yuko, a nurse of the National Cardiovascular Center, died from subarachnoid hemorrhage. Her parents filed a lawsuit with the Osaka District Court demanding that the government recognize her death as work-related. The government lost the case and appealed to the high court.

The high court ruling acknowledged that for more than six months before her death, Murakami had been working 38-65 hours of overtime a month and that she experienced excessive mental and physical stress because she was the mainstay of the hospital staff and played an important role in a hospital ward that included patients who require special attention.

Pointing out that Murakami had only five hours off between shifts, the ruling said, “Although she used the five hours to sleep, it was impossible to obtain a sufficient amount sleep for her to recover her health.”

The ruling stated that even when the amount of overtime is less then 80 hours per week (defined as the limit to the prevention of death from overwork), death from overwork should be recognized by taking into account various factors, including irregular work schedules and the quality of sleep that workers can obtain. The court concluded that the heavy workload was the cause of accelerating her cerebral aneurysm which she had developed earlier. - Akahata, October 31, 2008