CJD suits settled

The Health minister apologized to Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD) victims for having failed to take steps to ban the use of contaminated dura mater that cause the fatal disease.

On March 25, the government, a pharmaceutical company, and plaintiffs reached an out of court settlement, which was later confirmed by the Tokyo and Otsu district courts. Under the agreement, the defendants will pay about 60 million yen in compensation to each patient or their bereaved families.

These suits were brought by CJD victims against the government
and a German pharmaceutical company for using infected dura mater.

The agreement states that the minister will make utmost efforts to prevent such medical-related disease.

The plaintiffs and their lawyers said that the settlement is significant in that it makes an apology to all victims and pledges to prevent such tragedies from happening again. (end)