Society

91-year-old man's death at care home goes unnoticed for over 10 days

Jun 01 (Japan Today) - A care home for the elderly in western Japan said Friday the death of a 91-year-old male resident last month in his room went unnoticed for more than 10 days.

Security camera footage showed the man at Palmary Inn Akashi in Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, last went outside for shopping on May 9. He was found dead by a worker on May 22, according to the care home and the city of Akashi.

A postmortem examination by a doctor was unable to determine the cause of his death but found he died around May 10.

The man was not using paid services at the facility, such as meal provision, newspaper delivery and room cleaning, and doctors were not visiting him, so the facility workers did not routinely check on him.

The man's family told the facility on May 4 the man was not in good health, but as he went outside on a bicycle a number of times in the following days, the workers at the facility thought he had no problems, they said.

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