Photo/Illutration A woman speaks at a news conference after filing a lawsuit against a chaplain on Nov. 2 in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki district. (Eri Niiya)

A woman sued a chaplain and St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo, saying he committed sexual misconduct under the pretext of providing mental comfort during her treatment for an intractable disease there.

The woman filed the lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court against the chaplain and the hospital in the capital’s Chuo Ward on Nov. 2, after prosecutors decided not to indict him.

She is demanding a total of about 11.6 million yen ($110,800) for pain and suffering.

“I want to bring what I experienced out into the open during the trial,” the woman said at a news conference.

According to the lawsuit, the woman was diagnosed with an intractable disease that causes muscle weakness and started receiving treatment at the hospital in 2016.

In 2017, she met the chaplain twice in a private room at the hospital to receive mental care from him.

During the meetings, the chaplain touched her upper body and asked her to feel the lower part of his body, she said.

Accompanied by a lawyer, she reported the incidents to the hospital but was told St. Luke’s “has no consultation services for (such things).”

The lawyer said the chaplain “used his position as a holy man” to force a sexual act.

“A chaplain is supposed to ease the suffering of intractable disease patients,” the lawyer said. “The man took advantage of the patient’s trust and deeply hurt her dignity.”

The indecent-assault case was sent to the prosecutors office in 2018, but prosecutors decided not to indict the chaplain.

He denied committing sexual acts during an investigation by the hospital’s independent committee, according to sources.

He told the committee that “the woman hugged him and he hugged her back” and he “is aware that it was not appropriate,” the sources said.

A representative of the hospital declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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