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Death and Desire in Contemporary Japan

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Negotiating the Unusual, Classifying the Unnatural

The Reporting and Investigation of Medical-related Deaths in England and Japan

Louella Matsunaga    Oxford Brookes University, UK    

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abstract

This chapter compares the Japanese system of reporting and investigating medical related deaths with the coronial system as practiced in England and Wales, focusing on the categorisation of deaths as ‘unnatural’ or ‘unusual’ – terms which have become increasingly problematic, ambiguous, and difficult to apply in a context of rapidly changing medical technologies. The chapter examines the legislation and institutionalised frameworks for investigation of medical related deaths in Japan and in England and Wales, and uses this material to cast light on broader issues. Some key questions here are definitions of ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ and the ways in which the idea of ‘culture’ may be deployed in debates over the classification and appropriate investigation of medical related death. The chapter also considers variations in notions of personhood and agency, and understandings of the body, and the ways in which globalised systems of knowledge, in this case medical and legal understandings of the body, and of death, may be refracted and negotiated in particular local settings.

Accettato
30 Agosto 2016
Presentato
01 Febbraio 2016
Lingua
EN
ISBN (PRINT)
978-88-6969-150-8
ISBN (EBOOK)
978-88-6969-151-5

Keywords: Personhood • Autopsy • Natural • Unnatural • Coroners • Death • Body • Japan • England

permalink: http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-151-5/CFJS-6-3

Copyright: © 2017 Louella Matsunaga. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.