Photo/Illutration The plaintiff explains what it felt to be hospitalized against his will during a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 16. (Kyota Tanaka)

A man who was forcibly taken from his home and held against his will in a hospital for seven weeks won 3.08 million yen ($22,070) in damages in a court case that shed light on the plight of “hikikomori” social recluses.

In its Nov. 16 ruling, the Tokyo District Court said the man’s “hospitalization was illegal as it didn’t meet statutory requirements.”

The plaintiff, who is in his 30s, sought 5.5 million yen in damages from the operator of the hospital in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward. He was kept there for 50 days.

According to the ruling, the man did not work after he graduated from university and lived with his parents, confining himself to his room. He was forcibly removed from his home by employees of a company called Clear Answer on May 3, 2018.

His father had signed a contract with the company to help his son end his life as a recluse.

Clear Answer was based in Tokyo but went bankrupt in 2019.

The company’s employees took him to Seijin Hospital in Adachi Ward on May 11, 2018.

Doctors there diagnosed him as suffering from acute and transient psychotic disorders and in need of “hospitalization for medical care and protection.”

He was kept at the hospital until June 29 with his mother’s agreement.

For three days during his hospitalization, the man was physically restrained and forced to wear diapers.

The court declared his hospitalization was illegal based on the man’s electronic medical records, which showed the doctor who saw him was not a “designated physician of mental health.”

Only doctors who are qualified as such are allowed to decide whether a patient needs “hospitalization for medical care and protection.”

The ruling also determined there was no evidence the man was suffering from mental disorders when he saw the doctors.

Lawyers for the hospital operator argued in the trial that doctors determined the man was in a state of “morbid excitement” when he arrived.

But the ruling discounted this argument on grounds there was nothing in man’s medical records to show he was in such a state.

“Even if he was in a state of excitement, it is not hard to believe that the man was surprised at being taken to a psychiatric hospital without any explanation,” the ruling stated.

In addition to declaring his hospitalization unlawful, the court deemed that restraining him physically was illegal.

The fact the hospital was reporting back to Clear Answer on the man’s condition means it “provided medical information without approval and violated the man’s right to privacy,” the ruling said.

Lawyers for the hospital said they will appeal the ruling.

Clear Answer ran a facility called “Akebonobashi self-help training center.”

After being discharged from the hospital, the man lived in an apartment that Clear Answer had prepared for him.

But he fled after getting assistance from his lawyers.

He also filed a lawsuit against Clear Answer.

In March, a court ordered the company to pay damages of 1.1 million yen to the man for restricting his freedom of movement, among other things.

“It was as if I had been sent to a completely different world,” the man said at a news conference in Tokyo held after the verdict on Nov. 16, referring to his hospitalization.

His lawyers said they were not aware of any other case involving entities such as Clear Answer, which are known as “pulling out” companies, in which a court ordered a hospital to pay damages. 

Such companies forcibly remove hikikomori from their homes, promising to help them return to normal lives.

In September, a U.N. committee urged Japan to end forced hospitalizations of individuals with disabilities.

Commenting on the Nov. 16 verdict, lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya said: “In our view, the ruling condemned the system of forced hospitalization of people with disabilities and showed it is perilous. It showed how the system can be used to restrain people without disabilities for extended periods.”

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