Advance Care Planning for Older People in End-of-Life in the Japanese Context: Challenge and Opportunity (V)
Yukio Sakurai1, Yokohama National University Yokohama 1Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Abstract
Japan has become the most aged society in the world. The annual number of deaths reached 1.45 million in 2022 and is estimated to increase to 1.68 million by 2040. This increases the number of people facing the question of how death should be met. Nevertheless, the relevant agencies will be overwhelmed by the administrative processing of the dead and will not be able to respond carefully to individual cases. Based on the healthcare and aged care insurance systems, everyone has an opportunity to have care as designed by the Government of Japan. Given this situation, we can see that human death is built into the current healthcare and aged care systems. Thus, it cannot be said that sufficient consideration is given to the extent to which the will and preferences of older people is truly respected. The importance of advance care planning (ACP), which includes advance directives and supported decision-making, is being advocated. ACP is yet seldom used in Japan. In 2019, the Government named the ACP the “life meeting” to help the public understand the concept, which is an initiative to think in advance about the care that a person wishes to take in end-of-life, sharing with the family and the medical/care professionals. This attempt has been met with a backlash that the public is preparing for death, and it has not produced any results. In this paper, we will review the main obstacles to enlightenment of ACP and discuss countermeasures to make it understood by Japanese people.
Biography
Yukio SAKURAI is Doctor of Laws and a collaboration researcher of the YNU who has an MBA in Social Design Studies (Rikkyo University) and a Bachelor of Laws (the University of Tokyo). Currently, he is a master student at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University to study health law.