Taro Aso, Japan's Deputy Prime Minister/Finance Minister has said that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die." ABC News reported that Aso, 72, said during a government panel on social security reform that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" in order to reduce the country's burden on paying for their medical expenses.
He added that he already wrote a will that told his family to allow him to "hurry up and die" with a refusal for end-of-life care.
"Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government," he said according to The Guardian. "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die."
ABC News reported that Aso said that his comments were not interpreted correctly and he was only talking about his own personal wishes but not that for all senior citizens.
Almost a quarter of Japan's population are over 60 and the proportion is predicted to rise to 40 percent within the next 50 years, reported The Guardian.
"I don't need that kind of care," he said according to The Guardian to local Japanese people.
He also referred to elderly people who are unable to feed themselves as "tube people," and that the health and welfare ministry was aware that it costs "several tens of millions of yen" to treat a patient during their final stages of life.
40 percent of Japan's population over 65 are receiving welfare, reported The Guardian. The country is working on the rise in the number of people who die alone.
"In 2010, 4.6 million elderly people lived alone, and the number who died at home soared 61% between 2003 and 2010, from 1,364 to 2,194, according to the bureau of social welfare and public health in Tokyo," reported The Guardian.
Aso added that he acknowledged that his language was "inappropriate" and added to reporters, "I said what I personally believe, not what the end-of-life medical care system should be. It is important that you be able spend the final days of your life peacefully," The Guardian reported.
politicians, has questioned the state's duty towards its large elderly population. In 2008, while serving as prime minister, he described "doddering" pensioners as tax burdens who should take better care of their health.
In 2008 when Aso was prime minister he also said offiensive things about people who accepted pensions.
"I see people aged 67 or 68 at class reunions who dodder around and are constantly going to the doctor," The Guardian reported he said. "Why should I have to pay for people who just eat and drink and make no effort? I walk every day and do other things, but I'm paying more in taxes."
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