[A fundamental proposal to establish an investigative system for medical accidents]

For more than a decade, numerous disputes over medical errors and other safety issues in the healthcare system have occurred and attracted growing interest from society. As a result, through the Model Project for the Investigation of Death Associated with Medical Practice, the Outline Proposal of the Measure to Establish an Investigative Commission on Medical Accidents was proposed by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. However, this measure was not finalized. The course of the controversies involved has various implications. The Project Committee of the Japan Medical Association proposed the fundamental viewpoints to establish an exploratory system for medical accidents and to change the stressful medical environment for both physicians and patients based on the principle of the occupational autonomy of physicians.