Night Shift: The VA Deaths In 1992

01/31/2025

Killers everywhere. Takano Osamu’s death in Itabashi wasn’t a su***de—it was an ex*****on. Years of torment at the hands of his coworkers left him with no choices, no will, no escape. Forced onto the train tracks, he obeyed. Surveillance cameras caught the getaway cars. The evidence? Videos of brutal beatings, burns, humiliation, and worse. Four men turned cruelty into habit, stripping Takano of his humanity until nothing remained.

Now, prosecutors push for justice, testing Japan’s legal limits on psychological coercion. Will the courts see this for what it was—murder? Or will Takano be just another erased life in the shadows of Tokyo?

What appeared to be a su***de in the quiet neighborhood of Itabashi, Tokyo, has unraveled into a sordid tale of betrayal, brutality, bullying and finally murder

10/21/2024

The question

10/20/2024

Join us for the last episode of Night Shift.

10/14/2024

Tonight is finale of the podcast
This year, I went home
…to investigate 40 deaths at Truman VA Hospital in 1992, 30 more at Ashland Nursing Home
On today’s final episode, Nurse H is arrested & charged with 10 counts of homicide
What happens next? 🔥
Calamity
Join us for a disturbing conclusion that makes you wish the story isn’t over…and maybe it’s not.

Podcast Episode · The Binge Crimes: Night Shift · S7 E7 · 43m

09/25/2024

There was a good reason to go home.

https://www.stlpr.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2024-09-25/jake-adelstein-chased-organized-crime-in-japan-a-suspected-killer-nurse-drew-him-back-to-missouri

09/24/2024

Here are some very useful observations on telling a true story in a longform limited run podcast. It’s an art form that is in peril as people discover it’s cheaper to just have two celebrities gabbing every week. But it is heartening to see that a deeply felt and compelling short run series can still get listeners.

What stories continue to reach the widest audiences in narrative? It’s been over a decade since limited run became a dominant format for narrative…

09/23/2024

Episode 4 of our podcast # NightShift are today. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/witnessed-night-shift/id1578324041?i=1000666933488

With a special guest appearance by everyone’s favorite lawyer David Makman

The FBI isn’t getting the answers it wants from the living, so the Bureau hopes to find answers from the dead. Agents zero in on a male nurse as the main suspec

09/16/2024

One nurse borrowed some interesting books from the VA Library as this recently posted review reveals. Toxicology being amongst them. Also, please tell the FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation they have several library books that are 32 years overdue. Return them to the Harry S Truman VA library ASAP.

09/09/2024

The hospital epidemiologist races to analyze the data for deaths on Ward 4 East. The results are chilling: the same nurse was on shift when nearly all the patients died. Meanwhile, a young doctor makes a shocking comment that spurs an internal investigation

The hospital epidemiologist races to analyze the data for deaths on Ward 4 East. The results are chilling: the same male nurse was on shift when nearly all the

08/29/2024

A delightful and insightful review of my new book. Coming October 1st.

Journalist Adelstein follows up The Last Yakuza with another illuminating blend of memoir and reportage. For 12 years, Adelstein...

05/18/2024

"I disdain the ruling elite who send our men and women to die in their wars, all while doing nothing to ensure their sacrifice is honored when they return home”
Missouri State Senator Bill Eigel

The war might have been wrong but the warrior did their job. The VA Hospital system was created to take care of those who fought in our wars, but in 1992, instead of taking care of them, one nurse probably killed over 40 veterans---and the VA tried to cover it up. And punish those who sought justice.

The nurse was never found guilty---never went on trial in criminal court. Which is the subject of our next podcast
Stay tuned

This Memorial Day, spare a thought for those who have died in the one place they should feel safest—in VA hospitals.

05/14/2024

Published today!
My 4th book and the sequel to (2009)

A darkly comic sequel to Tokyo Vice that is equal parts history lesson, true-crime exposé, and memoir.It’s 2008, and it’s been a while since Jake Adelstein was the only…

02/28/2024

Nurse Richard Williams may have killed over 70 people. It makes the Zodiac Killer, Jeffery Dahmer and Ted Bundy pale in comparison. And if did kill them, he got away with it.

Dozens of patients died on nurse Richard Williams' watch, but he was never charged. Did authorities do too little, too late?

02/28/2024

What lesssons were learned?

“There is no pleasure in the documentation of wrongdoing. Certainly the VA at the highest level must realize that they are sitting on a ticking time bomb, where if not defused by honest actions, it will be revealed that the largest health care system to be fatally flawed and undeserving of the trust of patients.”

—Dr. Edward Adelstein, before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations, March 11, 1999.

This Memorial Day, spare a thought for those who have died in the one place they should feel safest—in VA hospitals.

02/28/2024

“There is no pleasure in the documentation of wrongdoing. Certainly the VA at the highest level must realize that they are sitting on a ticking time bomb, where if not defused by honest actions, it will be revealed that the largest health care system to be fatally flawed and undeserving of the trust of patients.”

—Dr. Edward Adelstein, before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee On Oversight And Investigations, March 11, 1999.