入所者４７９人の遺体解剖　ハンセン病療養所が報告書―熊本

　国立ハンセン病療養所「菊池恵楓園」（熊本県合志市）は１５日までに、前身時代を含め、死亡した入所者のうち４７９人の遺体が解剖されていたとの報告書をまとめた。入所者から一律に解剖の同意書を取っていた時期があったことも判明。報告書は「人権軽視のそしりは免れない」と指摘した。
　熊本大医学部の前身の熊本医科大が１９２７～２９年、同療養所の入所者４３人の遺体を解剖して２０人分の骨格標本を作製していたことが２０１３年に発覚。熊本大と恵楓園入所者自治会が１４年、園に調査を依頼し、報告書が今月まとまった。
　報告書によると、１９１１～６５年に亡くなった入所者約２４００人のうち、園が２９１人、熊本大医学部が前身時代を含め９８人の遺体を解剖。園が入所者ごとに作る「患者身分帳」などの記録で身元が特定された。さらに、死亡時期や身元が分からない９０人の解剖記録が残っていた。４７９人のうち５人は新生児や死産児だった。（2020/09/15-22:35）

National Sanatorium Kikuchi Keifuen, an isolation facility for leprosy patients in southwestern Japan, had dissected the bodies of 479 patients after death, the facility said.
   Of them, 389 people have been identified, the facility in the city of Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, said in an investigation report. The facility "cannot escape being accused of disrespecting he human rights," the report said.
   The sanatorium also found that there was a period in which the facility made patients sign documents consenting to the dissection of their bodies after death.
   The finding came after it was revealed in 2013 that a medical college that later became Kumamoto University's School of Medicine made 20 sets of skeleton specimens by dissecting the bodies of 43 patients from Kikuchi Keifuen between 1927 and 1929. Kumamoto University and an association of patients at the sanatorium requested the facility to investigate the matter in 2014. The report was compiled this month.
   Of some 2,400 patients at Kikuchi Keifuen who died between 1911 and 1965, 291 were dissected by the sanatorium, and 98 by Kumamoto University's school of medicine and its precursor, the report said. They were identified through records, including personal identification documents compiled by the facility. There also were records of dissections for 90 bodies that have not been identified, according to the report.