Serial murders and horrifying crimes do happen in Japan, which is likely why a mass stabbing can make global headlines for the relatively safe country. One of the most horrifying events in recent memory was likely the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo terror attacks that saw sarin gas being released on Tokyo’s subways — with a lesser known attack using sarin taking place months before. All are terrifying incidents, but now the country seems to facing something new inside a place that’s meant to be a haven.
Someone allegedly attempted to poison a group of patients at Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, killing two patients and forcing authorities to investigate at least 48 other deaths that occured on the same floor over the span of 82 days according to Yahoo News in Japan. The chilling aspect of the recent poisoning deaths is how they happened, seemingly targeting the hospital at one of its weakest points according to The Japan Times:
Officers are investigating whether an insider has been contaminating supplies. In a possibly related case, a hospital worker reportedly was injured last month by a drink laced with bleach.
Investigators in the latest poisonings found small holes in seals on the rubber plugs of unused drip bags stored at the nurses’ station at Oguchi Hospital in Yokohama’s Kanagawa Ward. Of around 50 unused drip bags, holes were spotted in the seals of 10 or so, the sources said.
Some bags bore the names of patients other than the two killed, suggesting an attempt to poison people indiscriminately. The police are now having the contents analyzed.
The victims, 88-year-olds Sozo Nishikawa and Nobuo Yamaki, both died after having a drip administered at the hospital. The substance inserted into the bags matched a “disinfectant stored at the nurses’ station.” The aspect that stands out about this floor of the hospital according to Yahoo is how most of the patients are elderly and facing severe health difficulties. Whether this has anything to do with the poisoning has not been revealed, but is certainly enough to put a chill over a place that’s meant to help people.
(Via Japan Times / Yahoo News)