The Court upheld the conviction of Akihito Matsumura, former director of the biologics division of the old Health and Welfare Ministry, for his failure to prevent the use of HIV-contaminated blood products in the 1980s that resulted in the death of a patient.
[1] According to the two lower court rulings, Matsumura caused the death of a patient with liver disease in December 1995 by failing to stop the use of unheated blood products contaminated with HIV.
[1] The Osaka High Court found Renzo Matsushita, a former president of the Osaka-based Green Cross company, and two of his colleagues—Tadakazu Suyama and Takehiko Kawano—guilty of professional negligence resulting in death.
[4] It has been suggested that the scandal originated in an alleged effort by the Japanese government to hide war crimes committed by the members of Unit 731 of the Imperial Army during WWII.
[6] The editorial page of the Asahi Shimbun argued that despite the Supreme Court decision, the government of Japan has not acknowledged responsibility for preventing harm to citizens from medical products:[2]