The daughter of an 88-year-old man with kidney failure who died three weeks after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster due to disrupted access to dialysis treatment is suing Tokyo Electric Power Co. for 31 million yen ($276,000).
In the first case of its kind, Emiko Endo, of Hirono, Fukushima Prefecture, argues that her father, Makoto Endo, died primarily because he could not receive sufficient dialysis treatment in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster.
The suit was filed at the Tokyo District Court on Oct. 3.
“Right before his death, my father appealed to me that he wanted to return home even by walking along the rail track and die at home,” Endo, 69, said at a news conference held the same day.
Makoto, also a resident of Hirono, began receiving dialysis around 1998, according to the written complaint.
His routine had been to visit a hospital in Tomioka, a nearby town, three times a week to undergo dialysis. The triple meltdown at the TEPCO-operated Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disrupted that schedule.
Makoto was evacuated to Tokyo a week after the crisis unfolded on March 11, 2011. He died April 1 at a Tokyo hospital after his condition deteriorated following several changes in the venue where he was receiving dialysis.
The Hirono town government has recognized his death as related to the nuclear disaster.
TEPCO would only accept that the nuclear accident was 50 percent responsible for Makoto's death and paid Endo about 7.8 million yen in compensation. The sum was determined in light of the criteria used to pay a holder of mandatory car insurance in the event of a fatal road accident.
Endo demanded more, but TEPCO refused. Their negotiations broke down late last year.
A lawyer representing the plaintiff said the lawsuit is the first to involve a dialysis patient whose death was recognized as being related to the nuclear disaster.
TEPCO said it will respond sincerely after studying the complaint and hearing Endo’s argument.