Japanese Finance Minister, Taro Aso, said Monday that the government should allow elders to “die quickly” instead of resorting to specific medical services paid with government money, according to AFP, quoted by Business Insider.
“Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. You cannot sleep well when you think it’s all paid by the government. This won’t be solved unless you let them hurry up and die,” said the minister during a meeting of the National Council on social Security reform.
Taro Aso, a former Prime Minister of Japan from September 2008 to September 2009, said: “I don’t need that kind of care. I will die quickly,” adding that he left in writing his wish that his life not be artificially prolonged by doctors. He called the patients that can not feed themselves “tube people.” The Minister recalled his remarks on Monday, insisting that he referred only to his personal wishes at the end of his life.
Aso, 72 years old, took over the portfolio of Finance late last year. He is not at the first controversial statement. In 2001, Aso said that a successful country is the place where “rich Jews” want to live.
“I said what I personally believe, not what the end-of-life medical care system should be. It is important that you can spend the final days of your life peacefully,” said the official.
Population aging is a sensitive issue in Japan, which has one of the highest average age in the industrialized world. Almost a quarter of the more than Japan’s 120 million population consist of people over 60, a percentage expected to grow to 40% over the next 50 years.
The decrease in the number of people in the workforce in parallel with constant aging puts a strong pressure on the social security system, which can not collect enough revenue to support people that depend on government money.
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