Abstract
Recently, number of foreign residents is increasing in Japan; especially many Chinese are in the northeast part of Japan. We sometimes have troubles with foreign residents at medical consultation because we do not have sufficient information on their cultural and social context. We have difficulties not only in the treatment of acute and self-limited diseases, but also have more serious troubles in the treatment of chronic and/or life threatening diseases. It is very difficult for domestic doctors to take care of the patients by themselves.
We had a 16-year-old Chinese boy who suffered from nephrotic syndrome before his migration. Against our medical advice, he refused medical examination, hospitalization and treatment, and took personally imported Chinese herb. Following four years, he fell into chronic renal failure. We mentioned about the medical problems of the patient. In addition, we discussed about three problems at the medical management for foreign residents based on our experience, (1) personal problems of the patient, (2) problems of the medical institution, and (3) problems of the social support system.
