Report: 128 elderly abandoned in Japan hospital

An elderly evacuee sits near a kerosene stove that's hasn't been used since morning to save oil at the destructed town of Yamada, northeastern Japan, March 18, 2011.

/ AP

Children and the elderly are often the first to suffer and the hardest-hit by natural disasters.

One week after a massive earthquake sparked a chain-reaction of disasters in Japan, the toll of the triple-crisis on the nation's aging population is becoming apparent.

Complete coverage: Disaster in Japan
Smoke rises from Japan's stricken nuke plant

The Guardian newspaper reports Friday that Japanese Self Defense Force troops found 128 elderly patients abandoned at a hospital about six miles from the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

According to the British newspaper, most of the patients were comatose and 14 of them died soon after being discovered. Japan issued an evacuation order for the area surrounding the Dai-ichi plant as the possibility of a meltdown increased in the days following the quake and tsunami.

Another 11 elderly Japanese -- residents of a nursing home slammed by the tsunami -- were found dead by security forces, apparently having succumbed to hypothermia. The newspaper said 47 residents of the home died as the wave initially washed over the building in Kesennuma.

It was not said how many people remained alive at the retirement home when the troops arrived, but the owner told The Guardian that they were, "alone and under high stress", explaining that fuel for their kerosene heaters was dwindling.

An estimated 452,000 people were living in shelters in Japan following the earthquake, and crews worked feverishly to try and cool overheating reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant and avoid a total meltdown.

[thetruthwillout]

We are getting bits and pieces of information, and the media is doing what it always does ... sensationalizing the situation. Situations taken out of context can look completely different from reality. There are always three sides to every story: your side, my side and the truth. Let's take what we read with a grain of salt. Also, we are so eager to condemn, but no one has said anything about the fact that looting, rape and murder have yet to occur. Remember Haiti? I guarantee that the Japanese will rebuild much more quickly. The difference? Japanese people are industrious and honorable people. The Haitian people are neither. Sorry, but the facts speak for themselves.

[carolo43]

This article depicts Japan as not caring. They are doing what they can do with no power, no food, no clothing, no heat and probably out of medical supplies. Some people sit slumped in wheelchairs who are not in earthquakes but in warm nursing homes in the US.

[trueblueusa]

The People of Japan would ,...

Feel Complete Safety IF Sarah Einstein was in charge,..

[abetc]

I am Japanese. Doctors were not deserting elderly patients. If it is possible, I want you to read this Japanese article.
http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/5424517/

[rwsmith29456]

Can you tell us what it says. I can't read Japanese.

[starving1968-3]

by apachekid March 18, 2011 10:37 AM EDT
Obama promises half trillion dollar cuts to medicare & social security to establish the Obama health care scam plan. Now how many of you elderly are beginning to get the picture??






The cuts that were proposed to Medicare, are the scam "advantage plans" that the republicans created in 2005.

Medicare costs SOARED out of control once that insurance company giveaway was created, and Obama proposed to eliminate it and going back to the system that was in place BEFORE 2005.

None of this has anything to do with the health care reform law, of course. And your incessant whining isn't going to get it removed. It's the law of the land, so you might as well quit crying about it.

Also, your ignorance of MANY topics is unbelievable.

[carolo43]

538 million people are not without hospitalization and medication care. That makes them better off than we are under "normal" circumstances.

[larlinc]

The photo the other day showed a dog staying by his injured canine companion. The elderly humans were left on their own. Which creature is the more humane? Which creature shames the other?

[askagain]

Yes, but does a dog know the dangers and is a dog smart enough to flee from the dangers. The article does not explain how this happened. Did the administrators simply abandon the people or was it a government choice in light of the massive destruction, injury, and death happening at the time. As usual, we are fed sound bytes with very little detail. In spite of that, we jump to conclusions.

[babooph]

I thought Asia was a showplace of great respect for the aged?

[thetruthwillout]

They have nore respect for the aged than we do. If I were an elderly person in a coma on the edge of death, and there was a natural disaster that may take your life, leave me alone and save yourself. God will take care of me.

[lindalentz54]

I think this is absolutely a sign of the times.

[feistyjourn]

I do too, lindalentz54.

[FreshxWater]

Why wasn't an industrial diesel generator helicoptered in on the first day? That's just common sense! I believe the pulling in an electric cable is smoke and mirrors!

CEOs, executives, and board members from Tokyo Electric and GE should be the ones working in the plant now. This should be written INTO LAW. It's the only way you'll get corporations to follow proper safety procedures.
PS. Add in the Banker CEOs who finance the projects!

Google:Thom Hartmann: It's a bigger nuclear disaster then you think!
DO NOT WATCH if you think you'll PANIC!

[pragmatist1]

How many lives were saved because these individuals couldn't be moved quickly and safely, but many others could?