A third-party review has found that a disability support facility in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, operated without clearly assigning staff to watch over residents, in a case in which a resident was left naked in a shower room and died. The operator, a social welfare corporation, submitted the panel's report to the prefectural government on the 4th.
The corporation said it was "deeply sorry that we could not protect a precious life." It dismissed four employees involved, with disciplinary dismissal among the penalties, effective the same day.
The report identified a series of abusive acts. Staff covered the resident's body with a sheet and moved the person to the shower room on a laundry basket, let the resident eat there while naked, and then left the resident unsupervised for about an hour and a half, according to the report.
The resident died after the incident, which occurred in January at the facility, Residence Wakafuji. The report points to the absence of a clear assignment of responsibility for supervision as a factor behind the failure.