Equality of vulnerable attacked by nursing home Bill, Court hears

The Health (Amendment) (No 2) Bill, passed by the Oireachtas last month, aimed at making legal the unlawful practice over some 30 years of charging holders of medical cards for long-term care in nursing homes, breaches the rights to life, to human dignity, to bodily integrity and to equality before the law of some of our most vulnerable citizens, it was argued at yesterday's sitting of the Supreme Court.

The right to life encompasses the right of a person who cannot otherwise look after themselves to be maintained by the State free of charge in an institution until they die, it was argued.

It was irrelevant whether that institution was public or private, and the right applied, regardless of means, to all persons incapable of independent living and was regardless of means, Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons SC said.

If the court found against him on the means point, Mr Fitzsimons said he would argue that the right applied to all persons in possession of the non-contributory old-age pension.

There was no pressing justification for this Bill apart from the fact that the State had been demanding from a vulnerable sector of the community monies which it had no legal entitlement to claim, it was argued. Legislative policy at the time also clearly ran counter to the charges, counsel said.

It was also argued that the new Bill gave the Minister for Health an "unlawfully broad discretion" regarding the setting of charges for maintenance in long-term care. Was the Minister to be allowed to prioritise the raising of revenue over the welfare and concerns of patients?

Mr Brian Murray SC, also opposing the Bill, said that it was seeking to give "indiscriminate immunity" to the State against legal actions arising from the charges. The Bill prohibits the bringing of any legal actions, which actions were not initiated by December 14th last, to recover monies paid.

The Bill allows for the Minister for Health to impose charges on patients to meet some of the cost of care in institutions and was introduced after the Attorney General advised in December that the practice, extending back over 30 years, of making such deductions from pensions was legally unsound. The Bill seeks to make lawful the future practice of seeking contributions to long-term care and also to give retrospective sanction to deductions made in the past.

At the outset of yesterday's hearing, Mr Denis Riordan, a lecturer from Limerick and a frequent litigant in the courts, told the judges that they were corrupt and could not hear the case. The court directed that he refrain from such comments and the hearing proceeded.

The two-day hearing resumes today with legal arguments in defence of the Bill.