What do we owe the newly dead? An ethical analysis of findings from Japan's corpse hotels workers.

While people are still alive, we owe them respect. Yet what, if anything, do we owe the newly dead? This question is an urgent practical concern for aged societies, because older people die at higher rates than any other age group. One novel way in which Japan, the frontrunner of aged societies, meets its need to accommodate high numbers of newly dead is itai hoteru or corpse hotels. Itai hoteru offer families a way to wait for space in over-crowded crematoriums while affording an environment conducive to grieving. Drawing on conversations with itai hoteru employees, we delineate the values this contemporary death practice expresses and show how these values comprise part of the broader idea of a good death. A good death implies duties on both sides of death's divide: to both the dying and the newly dead.

A rare cardiac tumor: Bronchogenic cyst of interatrial septum.

Intracardiac bronchogenic cysts are uncommon congenital tumors, which rarely become symptomatic. We describe a rare case of bronchogenic cyst in the atrioventricular node. A 36-year-old man with third-degree atrioventricular block was referred to our hospital. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a cystic mass at the right atrial aspect of the low interatrial septum. He underwent surgical resection of the mass, and a permanent epicardium pacemaker was implanted. His postoperative course was uneventful. Microscopic examination showed a cyst surrounded by ciliated columnar epithelium and partially smooth muscle, and the histopathological diagnosis was bronchogenic cyst.