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A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness
Japan's worst nuclear radiation accident took place at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, on 30 September 1999. The direct cause of the accident was cited as the depositing of a uranyl nitrate solution--containing about 16.6 kg of uranium, which exceeded the critical mass--into a precipitation tank. Three workers were exposed to extreme doses of radiation.
Hiroshi Ouchi, one of these workers, was transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital Emergency Room, three days after the accident. Dr. Maekawa and his staff initially thought that Ouchi looked relatively well for a person exposed to such radiation levels. He could talk, and only his right hand was a little swollen with redness. However, his condition gradually weakened as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his cells.
The doctors were at a loss as to what to do. There were very few precedents and proven medical treatments for the victims of radiation poisoning. Less than 20 nuclear accidents had occurred in the world to that point, and most of those happened 30 years ago. This book documents the following 83 days of treatment until his passing, with detailed descriptions and explanations of the radiation poisoning.
Hiroshi Ouchi, one of these workers, was transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital Emergency Room, three days after the accident. Dr. Maekawa and his staff initially thought that Ouchi looked relatively well for a person exposed to such radiation levels. He could talk, and only his right hand was a little swollen with redness. However, his condition gradually weakened as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his cells.
The doctors were at a loss as to what to do. There were very few precedents and proven medical treatments for the victims of radiation poisoning. Less than 20 nuclear accidents had occurred in the world to that point, and most of those happened 30 years ago. This book documents the following 83 days of treatment until his passing, with detailed descriptions and explanations of the radiation poisoning.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 180 reviews
February 2, 2017
Ouchi
That's so inappropriate: I apologise
That's so inappropriate: I apologise
March 3, 2017
If I'm ever exposed to a neutron beam, just shoot me on the spot, okay?
May 26, 2011
Shocking and painful. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to finish this book (it's a short, quick read but HARD) but I'm going to try.
update: Couldn't make it past day 15. Excrutiating. This poor man suffered so much, every single day.
At the hands of "well-meaning" doctors?
He wanted to stop. He wanted to leave. He didn't want anymore 'treatment' but it continued and just got worse from there - and he was no longer able to speak.
I have to ask: was this prior to 'informed consent'. Or was it (is it?) just that way in Japan?? Are Japanese citizens supposed to be happy (or compliant) to give their suffering lives over to science and research?
Do they have laws about informed consent now, in Japan??
The doctors had only the tiniest glimmers of hope, which dissolved soon after they appeared.
Bottom line - there's no cure for this level of radiation poisoning (they knew, almost immediately, that he had 20,000 times the fatal dose BUT THEY NEVER TOLD HIM!) And in the beginning, for quite awhile, he had NO symptoms.
After he died and after the measly lawsuits were settled, his family barely even got the statue tribute they were promised.
Radiation destroys your DNA which means you can't heal - anything, at all, ever. (made me wonder WHY they continued to withdraw blood from him, twice a day, enough to run 50 different tests)
If you receive transplanted tissue, the radiation in your body will destroy that, too.
He suffered, unimaginably.
A very ugly story that makes you seriously wonder why nuclear power still exists.
We keep saying that these accidents will never, ever happen again.
But again and again, they do.
Nuclear power is not compatible with human nature.
update: Couldn't make it past day 15. Excrutiating. This poor man suffered so much, every single day.
At the hands of "well-meaning" doctors?
He wanted to stop. He wanted to leave. He didn't want anymore 'treatment' but it continued and just got worse from there - and he was no longer able to speak.
I have to ask: was this prior to 'informed consent'. Or was it (is it?) just that way in Japan?? Are Japanese citizens supposed to be happy (or compliant) to give their suffering lives over to science and research?
Do they have laws about informed consent now, in Japan??
The doctors had only the tiniest glimmers of hope, which dissolved soon after they appeared.
Bottom line - there's no cure for this level of radiation poisoning (they knew, almost immediately, that he had 20,000 times the fatal dose BUT THEY NEVER TOLD HIM!) And in the beginning, for quite awhile, he had NO symptoms.
After he died and after the measly lawsuits were settled, his family barely even got the statue tribute they were promised.
Radiation destroys your DNA which means you can't heal - anything, at all, ever. (made me wonder WHY they continued to withdraw blood from him, twice a day, enough to run 50 different tests)
If you receive transplanted tissue, the radiation in your body will destroy that, too.
He suffered, unimaginably.
A very ugly story that makes you seriously wonder why nuclear power still exists.
We keep saying that these accidents will never, ever happen again.
But again and again, they do.
Nuclear power is not compatible with human nature.
July 28, 2022
When I started reading, I expected a slightly more psychological analysis of a man who became a victim of radiation. However, I soon realised that my expectations were naïve, for how could this be possible when the victim was quickly deprived of the ability to communicate with the rest of the world? That's the worst part of it all - we have no idea what was going on in Mr. Ouchi's head, he became and stayed mute for most of the days between the accident and his death. It was the price for saving his life, but was that what he wanted? We will never know. We will never know how long after the accident his ability to perceive was preserved, how long he had conscious contact with reality, or how long he had hope. This man suffered torments unimaginable to us, but I think it is incomparable to what might have been going on in his thoughts, in the thoughts of a man who became a prisoner of his dying body.
On the other hand, however, I find it a shame that so many people reviewing here so easily judge the doctors who tried to save Mr. Ouchi's life at all costs. It is important to remember that, as they described themselves, they were "navigating uncharted waters" because this was the first time anyone had received such a high dose of radiation. No one could predict what might happen, they were guided by small glimpses of hope, and everyone's goal became saving life. It is so easy for us to judge the moral problems and decisions of others when we are merely observers and know the finale of the story.
In the end, however, my expectations were fulfilled - I received not one psychological portrait, but a portrait of the entire staff and family and it broke my heart. Therefore, comparing doctors and staff to the 'docs' from the concentration camps who experimented on prisoners is highly inappropriate and immoral. This is why I find it cruel to describe a family who asked to save the life of their loved one as selfish. You can write "if I am irradiated, please throw me off a cliff", however, you are writing this being healthy, high-functioning people, you have no idea what you will feel in a state of a life-threatening emergency. This piece of reporting presents a multi-level story, with multiple points of view, it is a shame that most readers choose the easiest, judgmental and condemning route.
Instead of condemning the doctors, let us condemn the people who, with their irresponsibility and negligence, led to this accident.
PL:
Zabierając się do czytania spodziewałam się zdecydowanie bardziej psychologicznej analizy człowieka, który stał się ofiarą promieniowania. Jednak szybko zorientowałam się, że moje oczekiwania były naiwne, bo jakże miałoby być to możliwe, skoro ofierze została szybko odebrana możliwość komunikacji z resztą świata? To w tym wszystkim jest najgorsze - nie mamy pojęcia co się działo w głowie pana Ouchi, stał się niemy i pozostał niemy przez większość dni od wypadku aż do śmierci. Była to cena za ratowanie jego życia, umieszczono mu bowiem aparaturę umożliwiającą oddychanie, jednak czy on sam tego chciał? Nie dowiemy się tego nigdy. Nie dowiemy się jak długo po wypadku zachowała się jego zdolność percepcji, jak długo miał świadomy kontakt z rzeczywistością, jak długo miał nadzieję. Ten człowiek cierpiał katusze dla nas niewyobrażalne, jednak myślę że jest to nieporównywalne z tym, co mogło dziać się w jego myślach, w myślach człowieka który stał się więźniem swojego umierającego ciała.
Jednak z drugiej strony ubolewam nad tym, że tak wiele osób tutaj recenzujących tak łatwo ocenia lekarzy, którzy za wszelką cenę ratowali życie pana Ouchiego. Należy pamiętać, że tak jak sami to opisali, "nawigowali po nieznanych wodach", ponieważ był to pierwszy przypadek przyjęcia tak wysokiej dawki promieniowania. Nikt nie był w stanie przewidzieć co może się wydarzyć, kierowano się małymi przebłyskami nadziei, a celem wszystkich stało się ratowanie życia. Tak łatwo przychodzi nam ocenianie problemów moralnych i decyzji innych, gdy jesteśmy tylko obserwatorami i znamy finał tej historii.
Finalnie moje oczekiwania jednak spełniły się - otrzymałam nie jeden portret psychologiczny, ale portret całego personelu oraz rodziny i złamało mi to serce. Dlatego porównywanie lekarzy i personelu do "doktorków" z obozów koncentracyjnych, którzy eksperymentowali na więźniach uważam za wysoce niewłaściwe i niemoralne. Dlatego opisywanie rodziny, która prosiła o ratowanie życia swojego bliskiego jako egoistycznej, uważam za okrutne. Możecie pisać "jeśli będę napromieniowany, proszę zrzuć mnie z klifu", jednak piszecie to będąc zdrowymi, wysoko funkcjonującymi ludźmi, nie macie pojęcia co będziecie odczuwali w stanie nagłego zagrożenia życia. Reportaż ten przedstawia historię wielopoziomową, z wieloma punktami widzenia, szkoda że większość czytelników wybiera tę najłatwiejszą, osądzającą i potępiającą drogę.
Zamiast potępiania lekarzy, potępiajmy osoby, które swoją nieodpowiedzialnością i zaniedbaniem doprowadziły do tego wypadku.
On the other hand, however, I find it a shame that so many people reviewing here so easily judge the doctors who tried to save Mr. Ouchi's life at all costs. It is important to remember that, as they described themselves, they were "navigating uncharted waters" because this was the first time anyone had received such a high dose of radiation. No one could predict what might happen, they were guided by small glimpses of hope, and everyone's goal became saving life. It is so easy for us to judge the moral problems and decisions of others when we are merely observers and know the finale of the story.
In the end, however, my expectations were fulfilled - I received not one psychological portrait, but a portrait of the entire staff and family and it broke my heart. Therefore, comparing doctors and staff to the 'docs' from the concentration camps who experimented on prisoners is highly inappropriate and immoral. This is why I find it cruel to describe a family who asked to save the life of their loved one as selfish. You can write "if I am irradiated, please throw me off a cliff", however, you are writing this being healthy, high-functioning people, you have no idea what you will feel in a state of a life-threatening emergency. This piece of reporting presents a multi-level story, with multiple points of view, it is a shame that most readers choose the easiest, judgmental and condemning route.
Instead of condemning the doctors, let us condemn the people who, with their irresponsibility and negligence, led to this accident.
PL:
Zabierając się do czytania spodziewałam się zdecydowanie bardziej psychologicznej analizy człowieka, który stał się ofiarą promieniowania. Jednak szybko zorientowałam się, że moje oczekiwania były naiwne, bo jakże miałoby być to możliwe, skoro ofierze została szybko odebrana możliwość komunikacji z resztą świata? To w tym wszystkim jest najgorsze - nie mamy pojęcia co się działo w głowie pana Ouchi, stał się niemy i pozostał niemy przez większość dni od wypadku aż do śmierci. Była to cena za ratowanie jego życia, umieszczono mu bowiem aparaturę umożliwiającą oddychanie, jednak czy on sam tego chciał? Nie dowiemy się tego nigdy. Nie dowiemy się jak długo po wypadku zachowała się jego zdolność percepcji, jak długo miał świadomy kontakt z rzeczywistością, jak długo miał nadzieję. Ten człowiek cierpiał katusze dla nas niewyobrażalne, jednak myślę że jest to nieporównywalne z tym, co mogło dziać się w jego myślach, w myślach człowieka który stał się więźniem swojego umierającego ciała.
Jednak z drugiej strony ubolewam nad tym, że tak wiele osób tutaj recenzujących tak łatwo ocenia lekarzy, którzy za wszelką cenę ratowali życie pana Ouchiego. Należy pamiętać, że tak jak sami to opisali, "nawigowali po nieznanych wodach", ponieważ był to pierwszy przypadek przyjęcia tak wysokiej dawki promieniowania. Nikt nie był w stanie przewidzieć co może się wydarzyć, kierowano się małymi przebłyskami nadziei, a celem wszystkich stało się ratowanie życia. Tak łatwo przychodzi nam ocenianie problemów moralnych i decyzji innych, gdy jesteśmy tylko obserwatorami i znamy finał tej historii.
Finalnie moje oczekiwania jednak spełniły się - otrzymałam nie jeden portret psychologiczny, ale portret całego personelu oraz rodziny i złamało mi to serce. Dlatego porównywanie lekarzy i personelu do "doktorków" z obozów koncentracyjnych, którzy eksperymentowali na więźniach uważam za wysoce niewłaściwe i niemoralne. Dlatego opisywanie rodziny, która prosiła o ratowanie życia swojego bliskiego jako egoistycznej, uważam za okrutne. Możecie pisać "jeśli będę napromieniowany, proszę zrzuć mnie z klifu", jednak piszecie to będąc zdrowymi, wysoko funkcjonującymi ludźmi, nie macie pojęcia co będziecie odczuwali w stanie nagłego zagrożenia życia. Reportaż ten przedstawia historię wielopoziomową, z wieloma punktami widzenia, szkoda że większość czytelników wybiera tę najłatwiejszą, osądzającą i potępiającą drogę.
Zamiast potępiania lekarzy, potępiajmy osoby, które swoją nieodpowiedzialnością i zaniedbaniem doprowadziły do tego wypadku.
January 9, 2020
2008, The Tokaimura accident - a blood curdling read
Before Fukushima, there was the Tokaimura accident, one that seems to have slipped away from public memory. It was 1999 when 3 workers at the nuclear processing plant JCO in Tokai, a small Japanese village, were exposed to a chained fission reaction. They were, in lack of a better word, cramming buckets of enriched Uranium into a precipitation tank, in theory following the ‘rules’ of a shadow guide which short-circuited the official procedures, but in practice working with a shadow guide that was severely altered.
“This was the first time Ouchi had worked in the conversion test building. He was following his boss's directions for each procedure and had no idea of the criticality risk.” Hisashi Ouchi, one of the workers, a 35-year old father, was exposed to the highest dose of radiation. The book simply documents his inpatient care as his body was forced by fame-seeking doctors into an inhumane struggle to cope with the devastating effects of the incredibly high dose of radiation he was exposed to. He had been, after all, only inches away from the reactants.
The accident itself was nothing compared to the unimaginable suffering ahead. With his DNA destroyed, he suffered excruciating pain throughout 83 days. No new cells could be created anymore and those left in the body were slowly but surely decaying. Lymphocytes have all but few died out. The lining of the bladder, trachea and digestive tract quicly vanished; his immunodeficiency was virtually non-existent and his skin started to chip away. Yet a certain Kazuhiko Maekawa, an ER physician who was invested with all sorts of radiation emergency medicine titles, took the role of leader for Ouchi’s medical team. He was, as the book will rather reluctantly reveal, a self-absorbed fame-seeker, willing to place the importance of his name in a few articles far above the importance of his patient well-being.
For those who seek cheap thrills, these 160 pages satisfy their curiosity. But much was left out of sight. What was the cause of the gross negligence? Who and how authorized the procedures? Who supervised them? The BBC reported, back in the day, how homeless people (nuclear nomads) were used as labor in facilities like JCO. And on the other hand, the cruelty of Maekawa, who pushed his medical team to inhumanely puncture and revive Ouchi while”the skin on the front side of his body had almost completely disappeared, and he was bleeding from his mouth and intestines. That Maekawa, ”with approval from Ouchi's family, tested every treatment method he found in medical literature that seemed effective, even if it had a weak scientific basis. But Ouchi's condition did not improve at all” is bordering madness. That is why I think it’s important to start thinking about the right to die as an alternative to painful death and what measures can be taken to control the process. Also, incompetence and human errors should under no circumstances be equated to the effectiveness of nuclear safety.
This book has very little merit, but at least it preserves in writing a sense of Ouchi’s infernal ordeal. Hiroshi Iwamoto buries Ouchi’s voice under the weight of the egotic pride of doctors prowling at his decaying body, in the hunt for symptoms to document and the stupid carelessness of his family (“Ouchi's family almost never questioned Maekawa's explanations, and always agreed to the suggested treatments.”). In the end, as at least one of his nurses cried out, ”Dying is just like living. That person should be able to decide how to face death. The kind of death where that person's will is respected until the very end. We should be able to think about life and death at the same level.” It is impossible that your heart won’t break over his pain. In the end, the one person you can rely on, is always you. Good luck!
Before Fukushima, there was the Tokaimura accident, one that seems to have slipped away from public memory. It was 1999 when 3 workers at the nuclear processing plant JCO in Tokai, a small Japanese village, were exposed to a chained fission reaction. They were, in lack of a better word, cramming buckets of enriched Uranium into a precipitation tank, in theory following the ‘rules’ of a shadow guide which short-circuited the official procedures, but in practice working with a shadow guide that was severely altered.
“This was the first time Ouchi had worked in the conversion test building. He was following his boss's directions for each procedure and had no idea of the criticality risk.” Hisashi Ouchi, one of the workers, a 35-year old father, was exposed to the highest dose of radiation. The book simply documents his inpatient care as his body was forced by fame-seeking doctors into an inhumane struggle to cope with the devastating effects of the incredibly high dose of radiation he was exposed to. He had been, after all, only inches away from the reactants.
The accident itself was nothing compared to the unimaginable suffering ahead. With his DNA destroyed, he suffered excruciating pain throughout 83 days. No new cells could be created anymore and those left in the body were slowly but surely decaying. Lymphocytes have all but few died out. The lining of the bladder, trachea and digestive tract quicly vanished; his immunodeficiency was virtually non-existent and his skin started to chip away. Yet a certain Kazuhiko Maekawa, an ER physician who was invested with all sorts of radiation emergency medicine titles, took the role of leader for Ouchi’s medical team. He was, as the book will rather reluctantly reveal, a self-absorbed fame-seeker, willing to place the importance of his name in a few articles far above the importance of his patient well-being.
For those who seek cheap thrills, these 160 pages satisfy their curiosity. But much was left out of sight. What was the cause of the gross negligence? Who and how authorized the procedures? Who supervised them? The BBC reported, back in the day, how homeless people (nuclear nomads) were used as labor in facilities like JCO. And on the other hand, the cruelty of Maekawa, who pushed his medical team to inhumanely puncture and revive Ouchi while”the skin on the front side of his body had almost completely disappeared, and he was bleeding from his mouth and intestines. That Maekawa, ”with approval from Ouchi's family, tested every treatment method he found in medical literature that seemed effective, even if it had a weak scientific basis. But Ouchi's condition did not improve at all” is bordering madness. That is why I think it’s important to start thinking about the right to die as an alternative to painful death and what measures can be taken to control the process. Also, incompetence and human errors should under no circumstances be equated to the effectiveness of nuclear safety.
This book has very little merit, but at least it preserves in writing a sense of Ouchi’s infernal ordeal. Hiroshi Iwamoto buries Ouchi’s voice under the weight of the egotic pride of doctors prowling at his decaying body, in the hunt for symptoms to document and the stupid carelessness of his family (“Ouchi's family almost never questioned Maekawa's explanations, and always agreed to the suggested treatments.”). In the end, as at least one of his nurses cried out, ”Dying is just like living. That person should be able to decide how to face death. The kind of death where that person's will is respected until the very end. We should be able to think about life and death at the same level.” It is impossible that your heart won’t break over his pain. In the end, the one person you can rely on, is always you. Good luck!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2024
Ooof. An intense & gruesome read about the Tokaimura criticality accident on Sept. 30 1999. It focuses on one of the victims, Hisashi Ouchi, who miraculously survived for 83 days afterward. Written in a very straightforward, matter-of-fact manner, this book delves into the details of his treatment and calls into question the ethics of keeping someone alive in such a state.
August 26, 2018
By day 18 it starts to hurt. Not for Ouchi, he's already in unimaginable pain, but for the reader.
When day 30 has passed, you just want it to end and reading this book starts to feel like a struggle.
At day 83 you feel drained and heavy, like you owe Ouchi a small personal sacrifice for reading about his hellish struggle. This man suffered greatly and I feel like the author shines a way too positive light upon all those that forced Ouchi to keep on living. Was his sacrifice worth it? He's no longer here to tell us. Horrible.
When day 30 has passed, you just want it to end and reading this book starts to feel like a struggle.
At day 83 you feel drained and heavy, like you owe Ouchi a small personal sacrifice for reading about his hellish struggle. This man suffered greatly and I feel like the author shines a way too positive light upon all those that forced Ouchi to keep on living. Was his sacrifice worth it? He's no longer here to tell us. Horrible.
November 6, 2021
‘Damage to the human body begins the instant it is exposed to extreme doses of neuron-beam radiation. When chromosomes, the blueprints of life, are shattered into pieces and are unable to regenerate, the body is condemned to slow decay. This was a known reality of criticality accidents beginning in the early days of atomic research.’
Thought the cover looked ‘cool’ so I picked it up, but I was certainly not prepared for everything that came after the first few pages. Almost halfway through, I found myself making petty remarks about the translation. But with non-fiction books like this, especially when it carries such an heavy and important ‘message’ – it felt so silly to have complained about the translation. Initially I was very uncomfortable about the how this was a well-compiled book that felt rather ‘rushed’ – (which had seem to me like) almost disrespectful to the people affected/killed by the mismanagement of ‘facility’ storing and handling extremely dangerous/lethal materials/operations. But at the end of the book, Ouchi’s wife expressed how much and how urgently she had wanted the ‘public’/people to know about the ‘accident’ – and to learn from it. And ultimately that convinced me that this wasn’t just some ‘story’ published for the sake of pointless ‘shock’. A cautionary tale, yes; truly makes one wonder about the necessity of such ‘facilities’/’plants’. Is it really worth it; is it really that necessary? Plus, radioactive waste management is still such a massive headfuck today.
‘Since the accident, there is something I constantly think about, and people might consider me selfish for thinking this. But even if the accident served as a lesson and we live in safety without such an unfortunate accident ever happening again, the deceased aren’t going to come back. There is no ‘next time’ for them. This might be pessimistic, but as long as we continue to use nuclear energy, a similar accident will like occur…’ (Ouchi’s wife)
Despite crying on the inside towards the end, I finished the book in one sitting very quickly, but it’s not an easy read by any means. The title gives it all away – and/but it was more difficult to read than I had anticipated. Almost every detail was recorded by the medical staff looking after Ouchi – and it was all explained in the book quite simply and straightforwardly – with a few medical photographs added in too. At no point did I feel like I didn’t understand what was going on. And perhaps because it was written so precisely and coherently, it almost makes one feel like you’re really there – at the hospital where the patients were at – which makes it all extremely uncomfortable. But surely the aim of this book is not to make one feel comfortable. I almost couldn’t continue reading after Ouchi’s first cardiac arrest – which basically led him to become irresponsive until the end. And the fact that the medical staffs felt like it might have been a mistake to resuscitate him destroyed me. Not because I felt like they were giving up on him, but more so because of the fact that he had already expressed how he didn’t want to continue the treatment weeks before when he could still manage to say a few words. I think their (medical staff) greatest mistake/fault was their decision to mislead him out of ‘kindness’ in the beginning. If they had told him the truth – about the severity of his condition, he might have been able to be more insistent about ‘wanting it all to stop’.
‘I realised the importance of having lots of conversations with your loved ones. I want to have lots and lots of conversations with that person, so that if one day, that person is unable to speakand I have to decide whether or not to proceed with the treatment, I would be able to say, this person was like this, so please continue the treatment, or no, don’t continue the treat ment…If someone wants to live but can’t live, it pains me because I really understand their desire to live. On the other hand if someone doesn’t want to live, that also pains me. Only those individuals can know if they want to love, or if they no longer want to live in pain. That’s why you shouldn’t entrust your life to someone else. When you’re in a slump and don’t care anymore, you might feel like dying. You also have moments where you want to perservere and live.
I don’t know. What is life, after all?’ (nurse, Junko Nawa)
‘Dying is like living. That person should be able to face death. The kind of death where that person’s will is respected until the very end. We should be able to think about life and death at the same level. Everyone should constantly think about how they want to die. Just like we think about how we want to live, it’s important for us to think about how we want to die. Caring for Mr. Ouchi made me realise this’ (nurse, Naomi Shibata)
The doctor (Maekawa) in charge of the patients affected by the nuclear radiation accident of Tokaimura later went on to lead and/ assist in the reforms of emergency response system of radiological emergencies in Japan. His name is also everywhere when you look up science/medical journals about ‘acute radiation syndrome’ and alike. The patients’ family consented to have the patients’ information in the ‘journals’ published. I’m just rambling at this point – clearly still in a bit of a shock from reading this book (and reading journals after journals). Even though it made me quite uncomfortable (reading the book), I do believe that this is a book that everyone should read. It wasn’t a book I had intended to read, but it’s certainly a book that I don’t regret reading. I’ve got a feeling that I will be thinking about this for days/weeks/quite a while.
‘The horror of radiation was far beyond the realm of our knowledge. The amount of uranium that caused the fission reaction in the Tokaimura criticality accident was only one thousandth of a gram. We tend to consider nuclear energy as something that we control and exploit. But one wrong move can lead to disastrous consequences…Human life is truly feeble in the face of the destructive effects of radiation.’
March 25, 2011
I picked this book up after following the Fukushima disaster and learning that a criticality accident had occurred in Japan in 1999. Two workers were exposed to lethal doses of radiation. Holy crap, what an awful way to die.
Even though this book seems to have lost a little in translation, gets the science slightly muddled in certain parts, and isn't especially deep, I still really enjoyed this. You can read it as a straightforward, step-by-step account of what massive radiation exposure will do to your body; you can also read between the lines to see how the Japanese media treats nuclear accidents and the nuclear industry.
On one hand, there is a certain level of contempt toward the employer -- this is probably best summed up toward the end of the book with a few choice words from the worker's wife, but the contributing reporters make it clear from the outset that the employer had repeatedly violated laws, and then even violated company protocols that had been established to provide some degree of safety for the unlawful lab techniques.
On the other hand, it's interesting to see what's left out of the book. There are one or two passing mentions of a "suicide corps" being assembled to staunch the nuclear chain reaction. Sounds interesting -- how did they do that? What became of those workers? How much radiation were they exposed to? How were the workers selected? There's no mention. The phrase "suicide corps" sounds like the artifact of a clunky translation, and the reality may be that it was not literally thought of as a suicide mission, but there are no details provided. The silence on this issue seemed peculiar.
The book also mentions that the doctors avoided telling the patient that his chances of survival were virtually zero, and the book suggests that the patient was not aware of the severity of the injuries he'd sustained. Much space is devoted to asking whether it was right to prolong the patient's suffering in light of the inevitable, but no one ever asks if it was right to withhold information from the patient about his likely outcome. This presumably could have affected his wishes for treatment, and brings up all kinds of ethical issues revolving around the idea of informed consent. It's especially important because he continues to suffer after he is put on a breathing tube and is eventually rendered unable to communicate. Because a central theme of the book is whether it was right to prolong the suffering, it seems like a strange and glaring omission to ignore the issues like informed consent and what role a patient can or should play in critical care decisions.
Pithy take-home message: The book itself might not be four stars, but the reading experience was.
Even though this book seems to have lost a little in translation, gets the science slightly muddled in certain parts, and isn't especially deep, I still really enjoyed this. You can read it as a straightforward, step-by-step account of what massive radiation exposure will do to your body; you can also read between the lines to see how the Japanese media treats nuclear accidents and the nuclear industry.
On one hand, there is a certain level of contempt toward the employer -- this is probably best summed up toward the end of the book with a few choice words from the worker's wife, but the contributing reporters make it clear from the outset that the employer had repeatedly violated laws, and then even violated company protocols that had been established to provide some degree of safety for the unlawful lab techniques.
On the other hand, it's interesting to see what's left out of the book. There are one or two passing mentions of a "suicide corps" being assembled to staunch the nuclear chain reaction. Sounds interesting -- how did they do that? What became of those workers? How much radiation were they exposed to? How were the workers selected? There's no mention. The phrase "suicide corps" sounds like the artifact of a clunky translation, and the reality may be that it was not literally thought of as a suicide mission, but there are no details provided. The silence on this issue seemed peculiar.
The book also mentions that the doctors avoided telling the patient that his chances of survival were virtually zero, and the book suggests that the patient was not aware of the severity of the injuries he'd sustained. Much space is devoted to asking whether it was right to prolong the patient's suffering in light of the inevitable, but no one ever asks if it was right to withhold information from the patient about his likely outcome. This presumably could have affected his wishes for treatment, and brings up all kinds of ethical issues revolving around the idea of informed consent. It's especially important because he continues to suffer after he is put on a breathing tube and is eventually rendered unable to communicate. Because a central theme of the book is whether it was right to prolong the suffering, it seems like a strange and glaring omission to ignore the issues like informed consent and what role a patient can or should play in critical care decisions.
Pithy take-home message: The book itself might not be four stars, but the reading experience was.
June 22, 2022
if I’m ever exposed to neutron beam radiation please just throw me off a cliff
May 28, 2024
In a word... heartbreaking.
Despite this book trying to convince me otherwise, there's no doubt in my mind that those doctors led this man and his family to believe there was hope for recovery when they knew good and goddamn well there wasn't. They kept him alive, not to save him, but to document how radiation slowly destroys the human body. And, spoiler alert, it's horrific.
I mean, the radiation obliterated his DNA. OBLITERATED it. Like, when they got their microscopes out and looked for it, it just wasn't there. On a cellular level, Ouchi was dead from the moment that uranium punched the DNA right out of him. Ouchi's body basically liquified because of it and the fact that his doctors watched it happen over the course of 83 days is so absolutely disgusting, it makes me sick. Towards the end, they even resuscitated him... twice!
I wish they had told Ouchi the truth and had allowed him the dignity of being able to choose what was done with his body in the name of science.
You would certainly hope they got some valuable information from studying him. But, I can't help but ask, at what cost?
I rated this book 4 stars because it's an important story and should be read. However, the gaslighting was so tasteless, they should have just stuck to the facts.
Despite this book trying to convince me otherwise, there's no doubt in my mind that those doctors led this man and his family to believe there was hope for recovery when they knew good and goddamn well there wasn't. They kept him alive, not to save him, but to document how radiation slowly destroys the human body. And, spoiler alert, it's horrific.
I mean, the radiation obliterated his DNA. OBLITERATED it. Like, when they got their microscopes out and looked for it, it just wasn't there. On a cellular level, Ouchi was dead from the moment that uranium punched the DNA right out of him. Ouchi's body basically liquified because of it and the fact that his doctors watched it happen over the course of 83 days is so absolutely disgusting, it makes me sick. Towards the end, they even resuscitated him... twice!
I wish they had told Ouchi the truth and had allowed him the dignity of being able to choose what was done with his body in the name of science.
You would certainly hope they got some valuable information from studying him. But, I can't help but ask, at what cost?
I rated this book 4 stars because it's an important story and should be read. However, the gaslighting was so tasteless, they should have just stuck to the facts.
March 17, 2024
"I shan't leave him," she said. "I shall stay with him until the end. There's no one else."
What do you do, when there is no cure for what is attacking you? When it is almost as cruel as a living being, ripping apart every piece of you day and day again.
And what do you say, when you are put up against a losing battle, so terryfying and paralyzing.
How much bravery must have been in all those people. The poor man, the doctors and nurses, the family. Radiation and its workings remain an awful mystery and I can only wish for the peace and health for those who went through the storm and are still here.
What do you do, when there is no cure for what is attacking you? When it is almost as cruel as a living being, ripping apart every piece of you day and day again.
And what do you say, when you are put up against a losing battle, so terryfying and paralyzing.
How much bravery must have been in all those people. The poor man, the doctors and nurses, the family. Radiation and its workings remain an awful mystery and I can only wish for the peace and health for those who went through the storm and are still here.
January 31, 2018
This book was a personal insight into a horrible accident. I was pleasantly surprised by the witness testimony included from the medical staff who were directly in contact with the victim, Hisasha Ouchie. I found that many online discussions (how I found out about the book) were particularly unforgiving about how the doctors kept Mr. Ouchie alive despite his incredible suffering, but this book shows an alternate perspective, of how far a physician should go in the pursuit to save their patient, of when is the time to give up and concede that there is nothing more they can do. It contains in depth timelines for the doctors' awareness and subsequent treatment of Mr. Ouchie, as well as quotes from doctors and nurses who personally cared for him.
It contains actual medical photos of Mr. Ouchie's condition, not horrific external views meant to shock, but endoscopy pictures, comparisons, and even microanatomical slides of his tissues and how they were affected. It helped paint an in depth picture of radiation sickness and its inevitable end. It also explains scientific phenomena such as the blue flash from Cherenkov radiation succinctly enough (sometimes a bit too succinctly, in my opinion) to keep the understanding of the reader while not having to write an entire essay on what I have come to understand as a debated cause and effect. It also explains the basic principles of nuclear radiation, it's pros and cons, as well as the extreme dangers of coming in contact with it.
I would definitely recommend this book if you have any interest in the physical effects of radiation sickness, or interest in medical history, as it describes how physicians really were just shooting into the dark, trying to find a way to treat Mr. Ouchie.
It contains actual medical photos of Mr. Ouchie's condition, not horrific external views meant to shock, but endoscopy pictures, comparisons, and even microanatomical slides of his tissues and how they were affected. It helped paint an in depth picture of radiation sickness and its inevitable end. It also explains scientific phenomena such as the blue flash from Cherenkov radiation succinctly enough (sometimes a bit too succinctly, in my opinion) to keep the understanding of the reader while not having to write an entire essay on what I have come to understand as a debated cause and effect. It also explains the basic principles of nuclear radiation, it's pros and cons, as well as the extreme dangers of coming in contact with it.
I would definitely recommend this book if you have any interest in the physical effects of radiation sickness, or interest in medical history, as it describes how physicians really were just shooting into the dark, trying to find a way to treat Mr. Ouchie.
July 2, 2019
I tracked this down because I needed to know more about Oouchi Hisashi than the internet-circulated scarelore, and it did not disappoint.
The thing with the popular creepypasta version of the story is that by casting the medical team as evil monsters who intentionally tortured a doomed man for their own malicious ends, it actually allows one to feel safer. After all, WE are not evil monsters, and we're pretty sure we could tell if our doctors were evil monsters. That way, it's very unlikely that we would suffer a similar fate, and totally impossible that we could CAUSE this kind of awful, awful pain to anyone.
The truth is that Ouchi's medical team seem to be normal good people who really wanted to save his life. Not even for their own creepy ends, but because they thought he was a good guy with a good family who loved him and who didn't deserve to die. They didn't tell Ouchi the reality of his situation when he was still cognizant and able to make decisions because they were afraid he would lose hope. And as a result of trying to preserve his fighting spirit and save his life, he died a slow, painful and gruesome death.
See? That can happen to anyone. THAT'S scary.
The thing with the popular creepypasta version of the story is that by casting the medical team as evil monsters who intentionally tortured a doomed man for their own malicious ends, it actually allows one to feel safer. After all, WE are not evil monsters, and we're pretty sure we could tell if our doctors were evil monsters. That way, it's very unlikely that we would suffer a similar fate, and totally impossible that we could CAUSE this kind of awful, awful pain to anyone.
The truth is that Ouchi's medical team seem to be normal good people who really wanted to save his life. Not even for their own creepy ends, but because they thought he was a good guy with a good family who loved him and who didn't deserve to die. They didn't tell Ouchi the reality of his situation when he was still cognizant and able to make decisions because they were afraid he would lose hope. And as a result of trying to preserve his fighting spirit and save his life, he died a slow, painful and gruesome death.
See? That can happen to anyone. THAT'S scary.
August 5, 2025
Horrifying story told in a matter-of-fact way, although the human element is still very much covered.
It indirectly poses a lot of questions about how long treatments should continue on a patient and the right to die: the conclusions you come to as a reader will no doubt depend on your own individual perspective, but I think it's an important conversation to have with oneself and with loved ones.
It indirectly poses a lot of questions about how long treatments should continue on a patient and the right to die: the conclusions you come to as a reader will no doubt depend on your own individual perspective, but I think it's an important conversation to have with oneself and with loved ones.
May 5, 2022
I saw this book on a list of "disturbing nonfiction" and was immediately intrigued. It's about a man named Hisashi Ouchi, a worker at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokaimura, Japan. Japan has long been dependent on nuclear energy - at its peak, it represented around 30% of Japan's energy mix. Now, Japan is slowly decommissioning its nuclear facilities, and in 2020, nuclear was only about 5% of its energy mix. For a collection of islands prone to extreme weather events and a method of energy production prone to human error with disastrous consequences, nuclear energy is not ideal, although it is one of the few zero emissions energy sources we have if all goes perfectly.
In September 1999, Ouchi was holding a funnel for his colleague to pour a uranyl nitrate solution that exceeded the critical mass into a precipitation strength. What ensued is a criticality accident, or a nuclear fission reaction that occurs outside of the safe, contained environment of a reactor core. In this case, the fission reaction occurred when Ouchi and his colleague were literally pouring uranium into a bucket using a funnel with no protection. Both of them were exposed to an extremely high dosage of radiation immediately, primarily due to the management of the facility instructing them to violate practices in place to prevent criticality.
The book documents Ouchi's radiation sickness from Day 1 of irradiation (exposure) all the way to his death at - amazingly - Day 83 after irradiation. (Given the dosage he received - one of the highest known dosages of radiation in human history - it's shocking that he survived for almost three months. The fatal dose of radiation is about 1 Sv, and he received a whopping 17 Sv.)
Ouchi was transferred to the University of Tokyo hospital for treatment, where teams of dozens of doctors, specialists, and nurses administered to him daily. The book recounts exactly what needed to be done and why - for example, radiation essentially kills off all white blood cells and gives the body no defense against normal pathogens. Without a functioning immune system, Ouchi was susceptible to die from completely normal bacteria that humans encounter every day. So Ouchi had to be placed in a special two-chamber ward, and before any person or thing entered Ouchi's room, it had to be thoroughly disinfected.
In just under 200 pages, you learn about the chemical and medical processes that occur after radiation exposure. A lot of the material is highly technical; I will say that this isn't the best recap for a layperson, probably exacerbated by the fact that it was translated from Japanese. But you still get the major points, and the descriptions of what was visibly going on with Ouchi's body are easy to understand - and intensely horrifying.
What I found most devastating about this book is that Ouchi starts off in the hospital as a fairly normal patient, able to converse and joke with the nurses, telling his wife he loves her, still looking like a human being. But not long after exposure, he had to be intubated, and from then on, his condition deteriorated so much that he hardly resembled a person. He was no longer able to talk to anyone, and by the time his skin started coming off and he needed dozens of machines and medications to keep him alive, his nurses and doctors began to wonder what exactly they were doing. Clearly, he was in excruciating pain. He was getting high doses of morphine, fentanyl, and other intense opioids to numb the pain, and the continuous intervention by doctors was the only thing keeping him alive. The book includes several testimonies by nurses and his primary doctor, Maekawa, stating that they constantly questioned the ethics of keeping Ouchi alive when they knew the distress he was in, and they knew for a fact that he had no chance of recovery. It was impossible to know if he wanted to be kept alive or not. At the same time, their work was completely pioneering - there have been so few criticality accidents (~60), and few in the time of modern medicine that doctors didn't know if a dosage like this could be treated or not. There was no manual as to what to do, and experts from around the world came to contribute to Ouchi's treatment.
Eventually, Ouchi's heart started to fail, and his heart stopped for almost a full hour. Doctors revived him using injections and cardiac massage at this wishes of his family, but at that point, it was clear that the radiation poisoning was untreatable. His doctor explained this to the family, and they all agreed that if his heart stopped again, they would not resuscitate him. He died on December 21st, just before the new century, from multiple organ failure.
The supervisors at the uranium reprocessing facility were charged with professional negligence and sentenced to multiple years in prison.
Overall, this was a horrifying and fascinating read about one criticality accident, but more importantly, a cautionary tale about the largely unknown and devastating power of nuclear reactions. To me, nuclear energy is really a case of humans going where we really shouldn't be going.
In September 1999, Ouchi was holding a funnel for his colleague to pour a uranyl nitrate solution that exceeded the critical mass into a precipitation strength. What ensued is a criticality accident, or a nuclear fission reaction that occurs outside of the safe, contained environment of a reactor core. In this case, the fission reaction occurred when Ouchi and his colleague were literally pouring uranium into a bucket using a funnel with no protection. Both of them were exposed to an extremely high dosage of radiation immediately, primarily due to the management of the facility instructing them to violate practices in place to prevent criticality.
The book documents Ouchi's radiation sickness from Day 1 of irradiation (exposure) all the way to his death at - amazingly - Day 83 after irradiation. (Given the dosage he received - one of the highest known dosages of radiation in human history - it's shocking that he survived for almost three months. The fatal dose of radiation is about 1 Sv, and he received a whopping 17 Sv.)
Ouchi was transferred to the University of Tokyo hospital for treatment, where teams of dozens of doctors, specialists, and nurses administered to him daily. The book recounts exactly what needed to be done and why - for example, radiation essentially kills off all white blood cells and gives the body no defense against normal pathogens. Without a functioning immune system, Ouchi was susceptible to die from completely normal bacteria that humans encounter every day. So Ouchi had to be placed in a special two-chamber ward, and before any person or thing entered Ouchi's room, it had to be thoroughly disinfected.
In just under 200 pages, you learn about the chemical and medical processes that occur after radiation exposure. A lot of the material is highly technical; I will say that this isn't the best recap for a layperson, probably exacerbated by the fact that it was translated from Japanese. But you still get the major points, and the descriptions of what was visibly going on with Ouchi's body are easy to understand - and intensely horrifying.
What I found most devastating about this book is that Ouchi starts off in the hospital as a fairly normal patient, able to converse and joke with the nurses, telling his wife he loves her, still looking like a human being. But not long after exposure, he had to be intubated, and from then on, his condition deteriorated so much that he hardly resembled a person. He was no longer able to talk to anyone, and by the time his skin started coming off and he needed dozens of machines and medications to keep him alive, his nurses and doctors began to wonder what exactly they were doing. Clearly, he was in excruciating pain. He was getting high doses of morphine, fentanyl, and other intense opioids to numb the pain, and the continuous intervention by doctors was the only thing keeping him alive. The book includes several testimonies by nurses and his primary doctor, Maekawa, stating that they constantly questioned the ethics of keeping Ouchi alive when they knew the distress he was in, and they knew for a fact that he had no chance of recovery. It was impossible to know if he wanted to be kept alive or not. At the same time, their work was completely pioneering - there have been so few criticality accidents (~60), and few in the time of modern medicine that doctors didn't know if a dosage like this could be treated or not. There was no manual as to what to do, and experts from around the world came to contribute to Ouchi's treatment.
Eventually, Ouchi's heart started to fail, and his heart stopped for almost a full hour. Doctors revived him using injections and cardiac massage at this wishes of his family, but at that point, it was clear that the radiation poisoning was untreatable. His doctor explained this to the family, and they all agreed that if his heart stopped again, they would not resuscitate him. He died on December 21st, just before the new century, from multiple organ failure.
The supervisors at the uranium reprocessing facility were charged with professional negligence and sentenced to multiple years in prison.
Overall, this was a horrifying and fascinating read about one criticality accident, but more importantly, a cautionary tale about the largely unknown and devastating power of nuclear reactions. To me, nuclear energy is really a case of humans going where we really shouldn't be going.
May 25, 2024
Horribly distressing. Radiation is terrifying. I'd heard this story before, but this book was truly illuminating about the ordeal that Ouchi suffered through. The whole situation is ethically questionable.
August 22, 2024
not my typical kind of read but this was interesting and disturbing and sad. the way his body started dying when the radiation hit him but they kept him going for almost 12 weeks is brutal.
November 10, 2024
4.0 ⭐️
Absolutely terrifying.
Absolutely terrifying.
December 22, 2022
A terrifying story. The writing wasn't fantastic (though that could be a problem with the translation), but I found the subject matter to be morbidly fascinating enough to keep me turning the pages anyway.
What happens to a person when they are exposed to lethal doses of radiation and aren't allowed to die? Aside from the medical horrors, there's also a deep moral quandary at the heart of this book. Why didn't they let Ouchi die at a certain point?? It seemed like so much unnecessary suffering to me. The medical staff also asked this of themselves but it didn't get much deeper. No one really had an answer in the end, which is the unfortunate thing about true stories. There is no "why" to justify the massive amount of human suffering.
I was in favour of assisted dying before, but this book really, truly cemented that belief for me. Fucking *yikes*
What happens to a person when they are exposed to lethal doses of radiation and aren't allowed to die? Aside from the medical horrors, there's also a deep moral quandary at the heart of this book. Why didn't they let Ouchi die at a certain point?? It seemed like so much unnecessary suffering to me. The medical staff also asked this of themselves but it didn't get much deeper. No one really had an answer in the end, which is the unfortunate thing about true stories. There is no "why" to justify the massive amount of human suffering.
I was in favour of assisted dying before, but this book really, truly cemented that belief for me. Fucking *yikes*
December 31, 2021
Everything about this story is so unethical. From the workplace negligence to the unnecessary "treatment" he was subjected to so some doctor could stroke his own ego. Hisashi Ouchi was keep alive for 83 days just to be used as a guinea pig to experament on and his family lead to believe that he make a full recovery. Disgusting.
February 8, 2019
Quick read. I can’t believe they kept this guy alive for *basically* a science experiment. This could be the most terrifying and excruciating way to die. Absolutely frightening.
July 4, 2025
En väldigt lättläst bok som berättar om hur Japans bästa läkare försökte rädda livet på Mr Ouchi som blev utsatt för den största dosen radioaktiv strålning som en människa någonsin haft oturen att uppleva.
En dos av 8 Sievert har en dödlighet på 100% och Mr Ouchi blev utsatt för 20, cirka 20 000 gånger max dosen som våra kroppar klarar av på ett år. Hans vita blodkroppar blev förstörda, vanligtvis består blodet av 25-48% vita blodkroppar men mängden vita blodkroppar i Mr Ouchis blod var endast 1,9% .
boken går i kronologisk ordning och man får följa med i hur hans kropp slutar fungera ett organ i taget. Läkarna och sjuksköterskorna delar även med sig om sina perspektiv. Från början är dem optimistiska och vill hjälpa Mr Ouchi men allt eftersom hans lidande blir större och större och hans chanser att överleva mindre och mindre börjar dem tvivla på om den fortsatta behandlingen endast förlänger Mr Ouchis lidande.
Tidigt tappar han förmågan att andas själv och får ett rör insatt i hans hals som tar bort hans förmåga att prata. Hans hud tappar förmågan att skapa nya celler för att ersätta de som faller av, medicinsk tejp ger han sår som aldrig läker. Efter ett tag slutar hans tarmar fungera och han tappar då 10L kroppsvätskor om dagen.
Stundvis svår att förstå eftersom det är en del fackspråk från både kärnkrafts och medicinska experter i boken. ibland upprepar den vad den sagt men det görs i syfte att göra boken mer lättläst.
Spännande, kort och fruktansvärd.
En dos av 8 Sievert har en dödlighet på 100% och Mr Ouchi blev utsatt för 20, cirka 20 000 gånger max dosen som våra kroppar klarar av på ett år. Hans vita blodkroppar blev förstörda, vanligtvis består blodet av 25-48% vita blodkroppar men mängden vita blodkroppar i Mr Ouchis blod var endast 1,9% .
boken går i kronologisk ordning och man får följa med i hur hans kropp slutar fungera ett organ i taget. Läkarna och sjuksköterskorna delar även med sig om sina perspektiv. Från början är dem optimistiska och vill hjälpa Mr Ouchi men allt eftersom hans lidande blir större och större och hans chanser att överleva mindre och mindre börjar dem tvivla på om den fortsatta behandlingen endast förlänger Mr Ouchis lidande.
Tidigt tappar han förmågan att andas själv och får ett rör insatt i hans hals som tar bort hans förmåga att prata. Hans hud tappar förmågan att skapa nya celler för att ersätta de som faller av, medicinsk tejp ger han sår som aldrig läker. Efter ett tag slutar hans tarmar fungera och han tappar då 10L kroppsvätskor om dagen.
Stundvis svår att förstå eftersom det är en del fackspråk från både kärnkrafts och medicinska experter i boken. ibland upprepar den vad den sagt men det görs i syfte att göra boken mer lättläst.
Spännande, kort och fruktansvärd.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2021
I've always been fascinated by the events of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and I'm sure I came across this book while looking for more to read about that incident.
"A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness" is about the man who lived for 83 days after being exposed to radiation in a criticality accident. It was the worst accident of its kind in Japan until the Fukushima disaster.
Hiroshi Ouchi was holding a funnel into which radioactive material was poured when it exceeded critical mass. There was a flash of light and he was exposed to radiation in one second that was more than a human should be exposed to in a lifetime. Doctors were surprised when he didn't die immediately. In fact, when he went to the hospital, his only real symptom was a swollen hand. However, after several agonizing months, he succumbed to the illness.
The book discusses his treatment in the hospital and how it required multiple disciplines ranging from cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, and more. His treatments included many medications, platelet transfusions, attempted skin grafts, and much more. Doctors had never experienced treating a patient of such a radiation accident for so long - there was no approved therapeutic regimen to follow because it had never happened. The doctors and nurses were basically making it up as they went and treating the symptoms as they appeared because they did not know what to anticipate. At first, there was hope that he may improve and go home, but those hopes were dashed as his condition deteriorated. It led to inevitable questions among medical staff - were they helping this patient or prolonging his torture?
It details the horror his family went through. Ouchi was in his 30s and had a wife and a young child. They, as well as his parents and sister, were in the hospital to visit virtually all day, every day. They maintained the most hope and spent their time in the waiting room folding paper cranes for their loved one.
This is a heartbreaking look at the suffering one man went through and what was learned from it. This book is NOT for the faint of heart as it details Outchi's condition in graphic detail. The NHK TV Crew did an excellent job documenting what happened and making sure the public knew about it. I would be interested in watching the documentary made about the incident (if I could find it with subtitles).
"A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness" is about the man who lived for 83 days after being exposed to radiation in a criticality accident. It was the worst accident of its kind in Japan until the Fukushima disaster.
Hiroshi Ouchi was holding a funnel into which radioactive material was poured when it exceeded critical mass. There was a flash of light and he was exposed to radiation in one second that was more than a human should be exposed to in a lifetime. Doctors were surprised when he didn't die immediately. In fact, when he went to the hospital, his only real symptom was a swollen hand. However, after several agonizing months, he succumbed to the illness.
The book discusses his treatment in the hospital and how it required multiple disciplines ranging from cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, and more. His treatments included many medications, platelet transfusions, attempted skin grafts, and much more. Doctors had never experienced treating a patient of such a radiation accident for so long - there was no approved therapeutic regimen to follow because it had never happened. The doctors and nurses were basically making it up as they went and treating the symptoms as they appeared because they did not know what to anticipate. At first, there was hope that he may improve and go home, but those hopes were dashed as his condition deteriorated. It led to inevitable questions among medical staff - were they helping this patient or prolonging his torture?
It details the horror his family went through. Ouchi was in his 30s and had a wife and a young child. They, as well as his parents and sister, were in the hospital to visit virtually all day, every day. They maintained the most hope and spent their time in the waiting room folding paper cranes for their loved one.
This is a heartbreaking look at the suffering one man went through and what was learned from it. This book is NOT for the faint of heart as it details Outchi's condition in graphic detail. The NHK TV Crew did an excellent job documenting what happened and making sure the public knew about it. I would be interested in watching the documentary made about the incident (if I could find it with subtitles).
July 11, 2024
83 Days of Radiation is an unforgettable read that captures the unimaginable agony endured by Hisashi Ouchi. The book offers a vivid and excruciating account of the suffering, painting a stark picture of the human toll radiation takes. Having read Radium Girls and being fascinated by events like Chernobyl, I immediately picked this book up when I heard so many people recommending it.
The detailed descriptions of the physical and emotional torment were both gripping and heartbreaking. The author’s compassionate storytelling bring to life the horrific reality of radiation poisoning. The agonizing 83 days of gradual deterioration and pain are portrayed with such raw honesty that it leaves a lasting impression.
From the initial exposure to the progressiveness of the body shutting down, each stage illustrates the devastating effects of radiation on the human body. The book also sheds light on the medical community’s efforts to save him and the ultimate futility of their attempts, highlighting the overwhelming power of radiation.
This book is a powerful and eye-opening story that leaves you with a greater understanding of the true horrors of radiation.
The detailed descriptions of the physical and emotional torment were both gripping and heartbreaking. The author’s compassionate storytelling bring to life the horrific reality of radiation poisoning. The agonizing 83 days of gradual deterioration and pain are portrayed with such raw honesty that it leaves a lasting impression.
From the initial exposure to the progressiveness of the body shutting down, each stage illustrates the devastating effects of radiation on the human body. The book also sheds light on the medical community’s efforts to save him and the ultimate futility of their attempts, highlighting the overwhelming power of radiation.
This book is a powerful and eye-opening story that leaves you with a greater understanding of the true horrors of radiation.
May 13, 2017
More of a medical case study, but still very human. A pretty terrifying and unnerving look at the Tokaimura criticality accident which claimed the lives of two workers. While not an "enjoyable" read, it's quite fascinating and dwells on the ethical issue of keeping Hisashi Ouchi alive for the 83 days that it took him to finally die (and almost literally disintegrate), when it seemed certain that there was no chance of survival. I would have liked if there was some more information included on Masato Shinohara, who eventually succumbed after 211 days.
Moral of the story: stay teh fuck away from nuclear power.
Moral of the story: stay teh fuck away from nuclear power.
July 5, 2023
Haunting. I don’t read much non fiction but this book was easily the most memorable I’ve read this year. An eye-opening account of the medical implications of a devastating nuclear accident
I started this book mostly out of morbid curiosity and perhaps a discussion on the medical ethics surrounding experimental procedures of the time. Reading this was much heavier than I thought it would be. The descriptions were so gruesome and alien that “discussing” the case — outside of expressing sympathy for everyone involved — feels exploitative. The thought of this occurring in real life is blood chilling and I cannot begin to imagine Mr Ouchi’s condition.
For this reason, I don’t think it’s appropriate to frame Mr Ouchi’s potential medical negligence as “personal willpower”, especially as he lost the ability to communicate very early on. I’m not sure about the writer’s take on this at the end = 4 stars
An excerpt from the writer’s introduction particularly intrigued me and I think I’ll read this next — a passage by Pearl Buck on a similar nuclear accident
Far up yonder, beyond the clouds, beyond atmosphere and darkness and space, the sun burned with eternal energy, the primeval energy which they were trying to harness and use—for what? It had always been there and always here, a part of the very earth beneath their feet. There was atomic energy enough in the gravel soil upon which they stood to make coal use¬ less and oil a waste. Nothing new, this energy, but to know about it was new. And now leaping out of control it was destroying the body of a young man.
"Any hope for Feldman?" Stephen asked in a low voice.
"What hope?" she asked. "He will disintegrate. Great blisters will form and burst. The skin will slough away, gangrene will set in, the radioactive particles in his body will consume him. His temperature will rise, the white blood count will fall, and the very marrow in his bones will burn. And at last he will go out of his mind."
"You know it all," Stephen muttered.
"I shan't leave him," she said. "I shall stay with him until the end. There's no one else."
I started this book mostly out of morbid curiosity and perhaps a discussion on the medical ethics surrounding experimental procedures of the time. Reading this was much heavier than I thought it would be. The descriptions were so gruesome and alien that “discussing” the case — outside of expressing sympathy for everyone involved — feels exploitative. The thought of this occurring in real life is blood chilling and I cannot begin to imagine Mr Ouchi’s condition.
For this reason, I don’t think it’s appropriate to frame Mr Ouchi’s potential medical negligence as “personal willpower”, especially as he lost the ability to communicate very early on. I’m not sure about the writer’s take on this at the end = 4 stars
An excerpt from the writer’s introduction particularly intrigued me and I think I’ll read this next — a passage by Pearl Buck on a similar nuclear accident
Far up yonder, beyond the clouds, beyond atmosphere and darkness and space, the sun burned with eternal energy, the primeval energy which they were trying to harness and use—for what? It had always been there and always here, a part of the very earth beneath their feet. There was atomic energy enough in the gravel soil upon which they stood to make coal use¬ less and oil a waste. Nothing new, this energy, but to know about it was new. And now leaping out of control it was destroying the body of a young man.
"Any hope for Feldman?" Stephen asked in a low voice.
"What hope?" she asked. "He will disintegrate. Great blisters will form and burst. The skin will slough away, gangrene will set in, the radioactive particles in his body will consume him. His temperature will rise, the white blood count will fall, and the very marrow in his bones will burn. And at last he will go out of his mind."
"You know it all," Stephen muttered.
"I shan't leave him," she said. "I shall stay with him until the end. There's no one else."
May 19, 2024
I found out about Ouchi's criticality accident after diving into a rabit hole of terrifying cave exploration accidents. Even though the two topics were unrelated, a video with the title "The Most Radioactive Man" introduced me to his story. After watching a few videos describing how the non-standard mixing of the solution led to criticality, one comment mentioned how this book reviews the medical procedures after the radiation poisoning. I immediately located a copy and began reading.
Despite the medical procedures being extremely foreign to me, this book was very comprehensive. The author describes almost every terminology and medication, allowing the reader to follow along with the team's decisions.
This book made me realize two things about medicine:
1. It's mind-blowing how much the medical team already could do for the human body. It's inspiring to see how far researchers and practitioners have progressed in saving human lives.
2. The efforts of the medical staff tending to Ouchi and his colleague Masato Shinohara are motivation for future physicians and researchers to further reveal the secrets within this seemingly infinite profession. If I had read this book years before, maybe I would have considered pursuing a career in research of treatment methods.
Despite the medical procedures being extremely foreign to me, this book was very comprehensive. The author describes almost every terminology and medication, allowing the reader to follow along with the team's decisions.
This book made me realize two things about medicine:
1. It's mind-blowing how much the medical team already could do for the human body. It's inspiring to see how far researchers and practitioners have progressed in saving human lives.
2. The efforts of the medical staff tending to Ouchi and his colleague Masato Shinohara are motivation for future physicians and researchers to further reveal the secrets within this seemingly infinite profession. If I had read this book years before, maybe I would have considered pursuing a career in research of treatment methods.
May 31, 2024
this was an incredible interesting read, and the very first time i had “fun” reading a nonfiction book.
now don’t get me wrong, obviously the topic and situation detailed in this book is not fun, but as someone who has always held onto the belief that reading any nonfiction needs to be a teaching moment, to simply read a nonfiction book because it sounds interesting, with no intention of long-term learning to come from it was a very refreshing experience.
i had absolutely zero knowledge of the subject matter before i read this, so reading what that poor man had to go through because the company he worked for was willing to risk human lives in order to make things easier and quicker for themselves… capitalism i love you.
it was also rather painful to read how much effort was put into saving this man beyond any point where it seemed like “saving” him was still the humane thing to do. one of my biggest fears is that one day i may be trapped in my own body, suffering but unable to do anything about it, so just thinking about how mr. ouchi must have felt makes me absolutely sick.
overall this was an incredibly interesting read that also managed to convey the base knowledge needed to understand the things that happened very well, would 100% recommend.
now don’t get me wrong, obviously the topic and situation detailed in this book is not fun, but as someone who has always held onto the belief that reading any nonfiction needs to be a teaching moment, to simply read a nonfiction book because it sounds interesting, with no intention of long-term learning to come from it was a very refreshing experience.
i had absolutely zero knowledge of the subject matter before i read this, so reading what that poor man had to go through because the company he worked for was willing to risk human lives in order to make things easier and quicker for themselves… capitalism i love you.
it was also rather painful to read how much effort was put into saving this man beyond any point where it seemed like “saving” him was still the humane thing to do. one of my biggest fears is that one day i may be trapped in my own body, suffering but unable to do anything about it, so just thinking about how mr. ouchi must have felt makes me absolutely sick.
overall this was an incredibly interesting read that also managed to convey the base knowledge needed to understand the things that happened very well, would 100% recommend.
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January 27, 2025The book is about overtreatment. From the first day Ouchi was admitted to the hospital it was known that the radiation dose he had received was not survivable, but the medical staff never told him this or discussed treatment goals with him, and even as his condition got progressively worse the doctor in charge still only thought in terms of curing him (and the atmosphere in the team made the more junior staff feel that they couldn’t speak up). From day 11 to day 59 after the accident, Ouchi was conscious, unable to communicate because he was intubated, and probably in extreme pain.
In a way the book conveys its message rather effectively: it's a chronological account of Ouchi's condition and the medical procedures he was undergoing, and as a reader I constantly felt “oh no, do you really have to include all these gruesome details, what purpose can they possibly serve?”
In a way the book conveys its message rather effectively: it's a chronological account of Ouchi's condition and the medical procedures he was undergoing, and as a reader I constantly felt “oh no, do you really have to include all these gruesome details, what purpose can they possibly serve?”
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