Clinics are backbone of safe childbirths in Japan

By Akira Ogawa

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hakujinsensei at 02:27 PM JST - 1st June

I think Osakadaz' experience is close to the norm. I have experienced this process at a large national hospital and what I was assured was one of the best in our city. Fathers are tolerated at best. And the general state of medical information is .... might as well be in 14th century England with a lot of shiny gadgets. It is still common practice and it is encouraged by many 'doctors' to wear a haraobi. You get this long wrap at the shrine and put it on for the first time during the day of the dog on the buddhist calendar and cook your baby. When I asked the doctor why, I was just informed that Japanese are different. The doctors are busy, the waits to see them are long, the visits perfunctory, and the information disseminated scant. And heaven forbid, don't ask the doctor for any clarification or reason behind any instruction. You are to do as you are told. No questions. Period. For the first time in five births, I was not allowed to be with my bride during delivery because the delivery room was just not big enough and another woman was there. There were plenty of other oddities involved in the whole process but the one thing that I can say is a definite plus is the way that mom takes care of the new mom n baby for the first week or two. I would have preferred her to come to our house but it worked out just fine.

All in all, if this happens again, we will be delivering this one in the states.
hakujinsensei at 02:34 PM JST - 1st June

Jackfish, been here for a long time and things are not what they seem. first if you want to seek any kind of statistic, you have to be a research hound and you have to search in japanese because the info disseminated to the rest of the world is specious and usually devoid of the little notes that go along with stats giving them their meaning. Regardless what the stats say, abortion is far higher here than any other place except china or eastern europe. I also doubt the live birth stats for that matter. Dont get me wrong, I have truly enjoyed my time here and there are many great things about japan but I just think we should call a spade a spade and the childbirth process here is nothing to write home about.
dennis0bauer at 03:11 PM JST - 1st June

safe? now that is an overstatement
jackfish at 03:43 PM JST - 1st June

hakujinsensei...fair enough, reporting can be spotty, and from what I read abortion reporting from country to country varies widely. But I do wonder how Japanese manage to enjoy an extremely low infant mortality rate, plus and extremely long life expectancy, and still be the subject of so much scorn and mockery? It looks like they must be doing something right, aren't they?
Senjin at 03:55 PM JST - 1st June

I for one was very impressed with the hospital we had our first child at. They went out of their way to provide support at all times both pre- and post-natal, and the staff there seemed to genuinely connect with the patients. Sure, insurance doesn't cover pregnancy or birth costs, but most cities subsidize costs at least partially, and if you have any kind of health insurance at all you can receive an "ichijikin" payment following birth that in our case more than covered the hospital fees.
LFRAgain at 04:24 PM JST - 1st June

sydenham,

LFRagain, read the posts above. that has been addressed.

Respectfully, no, it has not been addressed. An excuse for the lapse in emergency health care has been offered, but inaccurately.

In the case of the woman from Tokyo mentioned in the link, she had arranged prenatal care. In fact, it was while she was in labor at her pre-arranged clinic that the cerebral hemmorage occurred. Because a maternity clinic is not equipped to deal with such an emergency (and rightly so), she was sent to the closest regional emergency care center, and was subsequently turned away, as she was from 6 other hospitals. For emergency care. Emergency. Care. And she died.

And that's the point of my objection to the article. When Japan is facing a fundamental problem with how healthcare is administered in emergency situations, ranging from doctor shortages in rural areas to bed shortages in urban ones, all the gushing about top-notch perinatal care amounts to very little when it's your wife being hauled about in an ambulance for hours, dying from a brain hemmorage that ostensibly could have and should have been treated immediately in a system that is supposed to be prepared for the unexpected. After all, what good is a health care system that isn't?

It would be truly wonderful if all illnesses and ailments were predictable and preventable, but it's the unforseen that most people do and should worry about. It's the unforseen that the Japanese health care system needs to be better prepared to address. And right now, contrary to the gushing pat-on-the-back tone of this article, the system as it stands simply isn't.
jackfish at 04:46 PM JST - 1st June

I thought that in japan, once a woman is confirmed to be pregnant by a doctor, she then can reserve a hospital or birthing clinic bed. In that case, I don't see how one gets bounced from hospital to hospital in an ambulance, unless she never bothered to go to a doctor during the pregnancy.
hakujinsensei at 05:09 PM JST - 1st June

Well, I have not only had babies born here I have had surgery as well. There is just no getting around it, the medical care is second rate. The hospital that I had surgery in was poorly staffed and absolutely filthy. They shaved my chest and belly and the giggling nurses cut me so many times and so deep with the straight razor they were using, I finally finished for them... And that was not my only experience with dirty hospitals, my 1 year old daughter was recently hospitalized for a few days and I was so appalled at the fact that my girls socks turned black instantly when walking next to her bed that I swiped the bottle of alcohol by the door, and used an entire pack of butt wipes to clean the floor, cabinets, baby bed etc. We were in the contagious room (why there were 4 kids in the contagious room....) and I watched the kid across the way be discharged and then they came, swept, changed the bedding and did not even bother to wipe and sterilize the baby bed before the next kid was brought in. No names but that hospital moniker can be found all over America. And don't even get me started with my wife, a full fledged nurse here that partied her way thru college ( we were dating at the time ), recycled other peoples homework, and never once turned in a paper written by her... the fact that she passed the test and received her license is proof enough to me that it is not worth the ink it was printed with. Not to mention the fact that I have to practically sit on her and sterilize her hands after she changes our kids diaper... Love her to death but...

That given, Jackfish is right in saying that they do have a low mortality rate and they do have a long life expectancy. Without a shred of proof, my gut is that it is a mix of underreported stats and the fact that the average birth is more well funded than america and many other countries. We dont have the drug problem here that exists in america so there are few crack babies for example. That being said, there is a huge amount of alcohol and tobacco abuse. There is zero stigma here about having an abortion so girls in 'trouble' or poor people would choose that option much easier. Beyond that, it is a mystery to me but saying that having the majority of babies born in marginally equipped small clinics with no real emergency facilities is obviously not the reason ; )
beavis at 12:47 AM JST - 2nd June

@hakujinsensei

Thank you for sharing your story. My Jwife and I would only concur with your experiences. She is constantly wowed by the level of professionalism and compassion that she has received here in the states in regards to birthing our two children, and claims that we are so lucky to have had them here and not in Japan.
nigelboy at 01:00 AM JST - 2nd June

Sigh.

Again what we have here is people disregarding the statistics by citing their "personal" experiences and mishaps on the news as if this is "close to the norm".
NYC_Samurai at 03:00 AM JST - 2nd June

Statistical assessments can be fallible and inaccurate just as new coverage can be slanted or biased. Personal experiences are the best lessons.
Starviking at 08:55 PM JST - 2nd June

@NYC Samurai

The problem with personal experiences topping stats is that it can be very biased. That said, given the lack of openness I have seen regarding shameful events in Japanese society - and also learning about serious events through my wife, that never make the news I would say:

"There's lies, damned lies, statistics, and Japanese statistics"
illsayit at 08:30 AM JST - 3rd June

Sure sounds like a lot of nervous fathers around. With wives, who are new to the game and as is common of us all, not the best informed, or assertive about it all. Its very hard to be assertive when you have a baby inside.

I want to reiterate my question about the meaning of clinics and hospitals in this article?

Sanfuujinka having a licensed obstetrician, and the Jyousanpu-san being the midwifery, which you can obtain information about through your local Houken Center. Though in English, I would say the midwifery are updating their image and have all kinds of services at reasonable rates-aroma-massages,hip-aligningetc. The hospitals have big overheads for luxury(or what some would call luxury) and thus their prices climb, unless you have your cheapest one around, but equiped and covering certain medical issues of pregnancy, or, bigger city hospitals, with high numbers; the price issue is often where people determine standards, but it is more one of your stance to if it is medical or natural.
Tahoochi at 05:01 PM JST - 3rd June

Osakadaz: I agree with Cleo. If you don't like the clinic you are going to now, ask around for recommendations.

Just a few weeks into my wife's pregnancy (don't remember exactly how many but it was early) she was told by a local clinic that the baby had a 50/50 chance of surviving. Then my wife heard about another clinic from a friend and that clinic told us there was absolutely nothing wrong with the baby. My wife just gave birth to a healthy son last week at a great clinic with excellent staff.

The Obstetrician was very busy, "darting around" like you say, but he did what needed to be done, and did it well. However, the Nurses of this clinic played a HUGE role in helping both my wife and I out by answering ALL of our questions, and proactively providing us with even more information, follow-up, and support.

The thing about "bad cases" such as women being turned down at hospitals is that they make the news for obvious reasons, and it's obvious there are some poorly managed clinics and hospitals out there... but people are giving birth to healthy babies everyday in Japan without it being nationally recognized like the "bad cases". Despite some "cons" of this Japanese system in general, I for one am truly grateful to the clinic that assisted my wife and I with childbirth. Sorry for the long comment on a personal experience!
Molenir at 08:11 PM JST - 3rd June

All in all, if this happens again, we will be delivering this one in the states.

There are a lot of excellent hospitals in the States. Allow me to recommend one in particular. Try Good Samaritan in Phoenix. Easily the best I've seen, when it comes to labor and delivery. Very, very good care.

I can't really speak for good/bad hospitals in Japan, as I've never needed to visit one. Though I've heard a lot of horror stories. I've also heard a lot of good things too. Not really sure how it balances out. If I'm in Japan and needing emergency care, I'll hope for the best, but if I have the option of being hospitalized in Japan, or in the States, I'd choose the states every time.