Judge orders urgent transfer of elderly woman to nursing home

The HSE has secured a High Court order for the urgent transfer of an elderly woman, with advanced dementia and other health conditions, from her home to a nursing home.

The transfer is against the woman’s wishes but was sought due to safeguarding concerns because her health situation is deteriorating and her son, who has a long history of serious psychiatric illness, also lives at home and has displayed mounting frustration towards her.

The woman’s husband, aged in his 80s, is “at breaking point”, the court heard.

The woman, described as “strong-willed”, is dependent on her husband for all her care needs. He had supported his wife’s wish to be cared for at home and he and the HSE previously agreed a home-care plan.

The husband, whose own health is deteriorating, has recently said he does not believe his wife can be safely cared for at home any longer, the court heard.

Their son, a paranoid schizophrenic, who has had several mental health admissions and a history of violent behaviour and criminality, currently lives at home.

Despite considerable efforts, neither public nor private housing, nor a residential mental heath service, can be found for him.

His volatility and threatening behaviour have created difficulties for professionals and care workers in seeking to enter the home and fully enact the care plan for the woman.

The couple’s daughter, who lives abroad, previously expressed concerns her mother was at risk of physical and psychological abuse from her brother.

Both the HSE and the husband consider the home-care plan no longer viable, David Leahy BL, for the HSE, outlined on Monday.

In addition to her dementia, the woman has a number of other serious physical and mental health conditions, he said. The safeguarding concerns were added to, arising from the son’s psychiatric illness and his mounting frustration with his mother’s behaviour resulting from her dementia. He had described her as “wrecking his head”.

Mr Leahy told High Court president Ms Justice Mary Irvine the application for a move to a nearby nursing home, made in intended wardship proceedings, was triggered because of increasing concerns about ensuring the woman's protection.

A GP who visited the woman’s home in recent days had described the house as having a general air of neglect and the living room as in a dreadful state.

The doctor said the woman refuses to wear incontinence pads or pull ups and refused to take medication so her husband, whom the doctor had described as making extraordinary efforts to care for his wife, has to be with her all the time.

Mr Leahy outlined, while this ex parte (one side only) application was to move the woman to a nearby nursing home for emergency respite care, it was envisaged she might be there for some time.

Because the circumstances of this case were “very extreme”, the judge said she would make the orders even though she would not normally grant such orders on an ex parte basis. She returned the matter to later this month.