Lucky day for treating illness

Despite our unhealthy habits, overeating, drinking, smoking, lacking exercise, etc., becoming sick is not so common these days in industrialised countries.

So when we do get sick, that's pretty unlucky.

Then what do we do? Wait until lucky Rokuyo day before seeking treatment?

Inadvisable!

As with birth delivery days, medical treatment tends to be too important to risk relying on superstition.

Mankind has an inherent and healthy, yet sometimes superstitious fear of sickness. No superstitious person would consider agreeing to surgery on the Rokuyo day of Butsumetsu.

Some people in Japan may also consider Rokuyo when being discharged from a hospital. Since the unlucky day Butsumetsu often precedes the lucky day Taian, rather than risk discharge on an unlucky day, there's evidence that some patients extend their stay by an extra 24 hours to be discharged on Taian.

That may sound quaint, but a consequence is an increased cost of medical care in Japan. A relatively small increase of course, but given the billions spent on medical care, this extra astrologically-inspired cost has astronomical consequences.

A similar phenomenon affects Western hospitals, with patients avoiding surgery on Friday the 13th.

If you've already recovered, please don't wait for a lucky day to leave hospital. Get out of that bed, make way for the next patient who may be genuinely sick, and get on with your life!

Influence of superstition on the date of hospital discharge and medical cost in Japan (BMJ. 1998 December 19; 317(7174): 1,680-1,683) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28746