Japan Nears Final Settlement on Hepatitis B Lawsuit - WSJ.com

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Japan Nears Final Settlement on Hepatitis B Lawsuit

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO—The Japanese government will soon reach

formal agreement to settle a massive class-action

lawsuit involving people who contracted hepatitis

B through childhood vaccination, expected to cost

up to 3.2 trillion yen ($39 billion) in damages

to compensate hundreds of thousands of victims.

The long-fought lawsuit, originally started in

1989, is a legacy of the time when needles and

syringes were routinely reused to inoculate a

number of children to save costs, a practice that

persisted in Japan until 1988. Victims' groups

estimate nearly half of the nation's 1.3 million

hepatitis B patients and carriers had contracted

the virus this way. The government's damages

estimate is based on projections that a total of

33,000 patients and 400,000 carriers will seek

compensation over the next 30 years.

The breakthrough in the case came when a national

umbrella association of plaintiffs accepted on

Saturday the terms of a settlement recommended by

a district court in Hokkaido, one of the 10

locations where the case is being fought across

the nation. The court recommended on Jan. 11 more

generous payments to victims than those proposed

by the government: 36 million yen ($440,000) for

those with liver cancer or serious cases of

cirrhosis. Furthermore, carriers with no symptoms

will receive 500,000 yen, plus the costs of biannual checkups.

The plaintiffs had hoped their case would reach a

successful settlement under the government of

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who had earned fame

while serving as health minister in the mid-1990s

for holding public-health officials responsible

in a case involving HIV-tainted blood products

that made many Japanese sick. In a speech

delivered at the opening of a parliament session

Monday, Mr. Kan pledged " sincere effort " to

respond to the latest court settlement. The

government announced its intention to settle the

case after the Jan. 11 court recommendation.

After formally announcing the settlement within

the next several days, the government is expected

to initiate parliamentary discussions for setting

up a framework to pay for the settlement, a move

that would put further strains on Japan's already

debt-laden public finances. " We'd like to ask for

understanding from everyone in the nation that

this framework needs to be supported and

shouldered by all of us, " Ritsuo Hosokawa,

minister of health, labor and welfare said in a

recent press conference. A bond issuance or

appropriation of funds from the social security

pool are among the steps being considered, according to the Japanese media.

One significant feature of the settlement was the

pledge to compensate " all victims, " whether they

can provide proof linking their cases to

childhood inoculation, such as vaccination

certificates dating back decades. This paves the

way for all hepatitis B patients to receive

compensation, except those known to have

contracted through other channels such as blood transfusion.

" The settlement is more sympathetic to the

plaintiffs than we had imagined, " said Mieko

Taniguchi, who leads the plaintiffs' association.

" We are still dissatisfied with the compensation

for the carriers. Given their feelings and

sufferings, we really want to see more gets done

for them. " Ms. Taniguchi, 61, who has fought

chronic hepatitis for over two decades, has a

daughter and a grandson who are carriers of the

virus. Plaintiffs say the carriers, though

healthy, also suffer from significant damages,

including the frequent discrimination they face

as they seek employment and marriage partners.

[Guest guest]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555804576101502771928070.html?m\

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Japan Nears Final Settlement on Hepatitis B Lawsuit

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO—The Japanese government will soon reach

formal agreement to settle a massive class-action

lawsuit involving people who contracted hepatitis

B through childhood vaccination, expected to cost

up to 3.2 trillion yen ($39 billion) in damages

to compensate hundreds of thousands of victims.

The long-fought lawsuit, originally started in

1989, is a legacy of the time when needles and

syringes were routinely reused to inoculate a

number of children to save costs, a practice that

persisted in Japan until 1988. Victims' groups

estimate nearly half of the nation's 1.3 million

hepatitis B patients and carriers had contracted

the virus this way. The government's damages

estimate is based on projections that a total of

33,000 patients and 400,000 carriers will seek

compensation over the next 30 years.

The breakthrough in the case came when a national

umbrella association of plaintiffs accepted on

Saturday the terms of a settlement recommended by

a district court in Hokkaido, one of the 10

locations where the case is being fought across

the nation. The court recommended on Jan. 11 more

generous payments to victims than those proposed

by the government: 36 million yen ($440,000) for

those with liver cancer or serious cases of

cirrhosis. Furthermore, carriers with no symptoms

will receive 500,000 yen, plus the costs of biannual checkups.

The plaintiffs had hoped their case would reach a

successful settlement under the government of

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who had earned fame

while serving as health minister in the mid-1990s

for holding public-health officials responsible

in a case involving HIV-tainted blood products

that made many Japanese sick. In a speech

delivered at the opening of a parliament session

Monday, Mr. Kan pledged " sincere effort " to

respond to the latest court settlement. The

government announced its intention to settle the

case after the Jan. 11 court recommendation.

After formally announcing the settlement within

the next several days, the government is expected

to initiate parliamentary discussions for setting

up a framework to pay for the settlement, a move

that would put further strains on Japan's already

debt-laden public finances. " We'd like to ask for

understanding from everyone in the nation that

this framework needs to be supported and

shouldered by all of us, " Ritsuo Hosokawa,

minister of health, labor and welfare said in a

recent press conference. A bond issuance or

appropriation of funds from the social security

pool are among the steps being considered, according to the Japanese media.

One significant feature of the settlement was the

pledge to compensate " all victims, " whether they

can provide proof linking their cases to

childhood inoculation, such as vaccination

certificates dating back decades. This paves the

way for all hepatitis B patients to receive

compensation, except those known to have

contracted through other channels such as blood transfusion.

" The settlement is more sympathetic to the

plaintiffs than we had imagined, " said Mieko

Taniguchi, who leads the plaintiffs' association.

" We are still dissatisfied with the compensation

for the carriers. Given their feelings and

sufferings, we really want to see more gets done

for them. " Ms. Taniguchi, 61, who has fought

chronic hepatitis for over two decades, has a

daughter and a grandson who are carriers of the

virus. Plaintiffs say the carriers, though

healthy, also suffer from significant damages,

including the frequent discrimination they face

as they seek employment and marriage partners.