The Fukuoka District Court hearing for a lawsuit accusing a local rehabilitation center of misdiagnosing a girl with a hearing disability as having an intellectual disability without carrying a proper examination was held on July 6.
According to the suit filed with the Fukuoka District Court’s Kokura branch, the girl, aged 13, from the city of Kitakyushu was thought to have had delayed language development from around the age of 2. In 2011, she was diagnosed with an intellectual disability and a pervasive developmental disability by the Kitakyushu Children’s Rehabilitation Center when she was 3, reports Kyushu News Department.
However, when the girl was in fifth grade at a school for children with intellectual disabilities in 2018, her homeroom teacher pointed out, “She is reading my lips, so she may be deaf.”
A hospital then conducted another examination, and she was diagnosed as having audio neuropathy, which allows her to hear some sounds but not enough to understand words.
The plaintiffs claim that the girl was misdiagnosed as she was not appropriately examined at the rehabilitation center and was deprived of the chance to receive appropriate treatment and education to acquire language for about seven and a half years. The suit demands about 20 million yen (roughly $181,000) in damages from the Kitakyushu Social Welfare Corp., which operates the rehabilitation center.
In the second year of junior high school, the girl has undergone cochlear implant surgery and can speak out and have simple conversations. She also appeared at the case’s first hearing, telling the presiding judge, “Thank you in advance.”
The girl’s 39-year-old mother told the Mainichi Shimbun, “I complained numerous times that she could have a hearing impairment, but they did not allow her to be examined. I would like the center to admit their fault and take responsibility.”
