Action by disabled woman over nursing home to go to mediation

A damages claim by a profoundly deaf woman with physical disabilities over the HSE's decision to put in her a nursing home is to go to mediation, the High Court has heard.

Jennifer Walsh (35), who requires a wheelchair and communicates through Irish Sign Language, initiated proceedings last May over being placed by the HSE in a nursing home in Co Carlow in 2017.

She claims the placement, despite the best efforts of those working there, is inappropriate and she is left feeling isolated. “I don’t want to be alone any more, this has to stop,” she said in an affidavit.

Represented by Felix McEnroy SC and Sarah McKechnie BL, Ms Walsh claims, despite having full capacity, she has been wrongly designated and assessed by the HSE as having an intellectual disability.

She claims the nursing home placement has been harmful for her and the HSE disregarded independent medical evidence and social worker’s opinions and concerns about her health.

The services provided to her do not meet her needs and the HSE had placed her in an environment which has caused her to deteriorate significantly, it is claimed. All the other residents at the Riverdale nursing home in Ballon, Co Carlow are elderly.

She claims other residents cannot understand her as they do not speak ISL and she must use either an IPAD or phone text messages to communicate with others at the home.

‘Really hard’

A sign language interpreter, who acts as a personal assistant, is only available to her for 20 hours a week.

The HSE had proposed moving her to a house with a person with intellectual difficulties but she opposed that as she believes it is also inappropriate for her needs and “the same as the nursing home”.

In her affidavit, she said she was brought back for a visit with the deaf community at St Mary’s School in Cabra, Dublin where she had attended school until aged 21.

“I loved it there. I met by old teacher, my SNA, and my friends,” she said.

“I was welcomed back. I could communicate with people again. I did lots of things there. I did activities. I went to Mass. I had my meals. I came out of the dark. I was happy again, and I did not want to leave.”

Going back to the nursing home was “really hard.”

In her action, she wants damages, various orders and declarations. She seeks orders requiring the HSE to provide a care plan for her, the services she requires, and a comprehensive assessment.

She also seeks an order quashing the decision to place her in the nursing home, a designated centre for older persons, and not a centre for persons with physical disabilities.

She is claiming damages for personal injury as a result of alleged breach of duty, reckless infliction of emotional damage and breach of her rights under EU law. HIQA is a notice party to the proceedings.

The HSE opposes the action, and denies any wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, Mr Justice Charles Meenan ruled the case should proceed in two modules, the first concerning whether there was an entitlement to the orders and declarations sought.

If so, the second module would assess damages. The judge said the case was “complex” and suggested mediation be considered. When the matter returned before the court this week, Mr Enroy, and Gerard Durcan SC, for the HSE, said the parties are willing to go to mediation, expected to take some weeks.

The judge welcomed the development and adjourned the case to allow the mediation take place.