Surgeon in Japan wrongfully convicted of molesting patient found innocent 9 years later
A Japanese surgeon who spent nearly a decade fighting accusations of sexual assault has finally been acquitted by the Tokyo High Court.
The 49-year-old had been convicted of molesting a patient by licking her breast after surgery, but new findings have revealed she was likely experiencing post-surgery delirium.
Breast cancer surgery leads to sexual assault allegations
The case began in May 2016 when the surgeon performed a tumour removal operation on a woman in her 30s.
According to local media, she later claimed that he had exposed her breasts, licked them, and masturbated while she was recovering.
Police arrested him after allegedly finding traces of his DNA on her breasts.
However, the surgeon denied the accusations, arguing that she had been recovering in a ward with three other patients — making it impossible for such an incident to have gone unnoticed.
Medical experts later suggested that the patient may have hallucinated the assault due to postoperative delirium, a condition caused by anaesthesia. Others speculated that the DNA could have been transferred during a routine post-surgery examination when the surgeon was speaking without a mask.
Despite initially being found innocent in 2019, the prosecution appealed, and in 2020, he was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison—sparking outrage in the medical community.
Source: NHK
A sentence overturned too late
The Supreme Court later ruled that the hallucination theory was plausible and that the prosecution had not adequately considered the DNA evidence.
In light of this, the case was sent back to the Tokyo High Court, which ruled the surgeon innocent on 12 March this year — nine years after the ordeal began.
Source: NipponTV
However, the damage had already been done.
Speaking at a press conference, the surgeon expressed his fury at the police and prosecution, stating they had “taken away his life, his job, and his family.”
Following his conviction, he lost his job and his reputation was destroyed.
Tragically, in September 2020, his middle school-aged son took his own life by jumping in front of a train. Observers believe the boy was unable to cope with the shame and stigma of his father being labelled a sex offender.
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Featured image adapted from NipponTV.
