Japan grapples with high rates of ‘carer killings’ made worse by pandemic isolation

Every eight days in the decade to 2021, an average of one elderly Japanese person was killed by a member of their own family or committed suicide after killing a relative they were caring for, according to a study released this month.

The alarming statistics on what is being termed “caregiver fatigue” may have worsened in subsequent years, an academic has suggested, as enforced isolation during the coronavirus pandemic compounded the desperation of untrained family members trying to care for relatives with debilitating illnesses in their own homes.

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