On January 30, 2026, 51-year-old former nurse Miyuki Furukawa injected feces into the intravenous line of a 75-year-old male patient, Eiji Aida, at Kashiwa Tanaka Hospital in Chiba Prefecture, Japan[s1-s3,s5-s7,s9-s12]. The injection occurred around 3:55 a.m. during Furukawa’s night shift when supervision was low [1, 2, 3].

The feces contained pathogenic intestinal bacteria that entered Aida's bloodstream, causing a severe infection. Aida's condition deteriorated rapidly, and he died from sepsis-induced multiple organ failure at about 10:30 p.m. on January 31[s1-s3,s5,s6,s9-s12].

Hospital staff discovered abnormal brown residue inside the IV tubing and reported the contamination to police on February 1 [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Furukawa resigned from Kashiwa Tanaka Hospital in late February 2026 and later worked as a midwife at another hospital in Tokyo [1, 2, 8, 3, 5, 6].

Police arrested Furukawa on July 15 after nearly six months of investigation[s1-s3,s5-s12]. Authorities found searches on her mobile phone related to injecting feces and whether it would cause death, suggesting premeditation [1, 8, 3, 7, 9]. Furukawa denies all allegations, stating, “I did not mix feces into the tube” when questioned by police[s1,s2,s5-s7,s9-s12].

Reports say Furukawa had conflicts with the victim and exhibited unusual behavior such as frequently entering Aida’s room despite not being assigned there [8, 10, 7, 9]. Police suspect she may have used feces from other hospitalized patients rather than her own, although there is no confirmation [9]. Investigators believe resentment over caregiving duties like changing diapers may have motivated the act [10].

Hospital representatives condemned the act as unforgivable and apologized publicly at a press conference on July 16. The hospital pledged full cooperation with ongoing investigations. A hospital spokesperson said, “As an employee of a medical institution, and as a human being, this is an absolutely unforgivable act, and our hospital strongly condemns it. We are also deeply regretful that such a situation occurred despite maintaining a standard medical care system” [2, 8, 4, 5, 6]. Hospital director Hasegawa Tamon added, “We have no evidence of any disputes between the suspect and the victim” [8].

Police continue probing possible motives, further details of the crime, and whether other similar incidents took place while Furukawa was employed at the hospital [1, 10, 11].