Abstract
From the second half of the 20th century in Europe and the US, the individual medical accident investigation systems were prevailed and civil lawsuits developed. This system’s role is investigation and prevention as to death and serious accident by supervisory organs. As the number of medical accident didn’t decrease, the comprehensive medical accident investigation systems started from the end of the 20th century. This system’s role is investigation and prevention by reporting the incidents including nearmiss.
In Japan, the individual medical accident investigation system came into effect in October 2015, as a result of partial revisions to the Medical Care Act. The system is expected to be used extensively, due to the fact that it essentially puts an end to criminal penalties for medical accidents. But the number of reported cases has been smaller than the expectation, and the more developed implementation should be needed. The first step towards actively promoting the implementation of this system will require a medical-characteristic system approach, in order to effectively improve medical safety and focus on preventing accidents from the standpoint of medical ethics. Based on disclosure of this information, the second step will be to separately clarify civil responsibility as soon as possible, to enable disputes to be resolved smoothly. The third step will then be to restrict criminal responsibility to intentional or malicious acts, enabling it to be essentially abolished as a rule..
