An 80-year-old woman with chronic medical difficulties has started a High Court action with potential implications for thousands of elderly patients in private nursing home care.
The case raises important issues about the State's liability to meet the costs of in-patient care.
Senior counsel Gerard Hogan, for the State, told the court the proceedings were "potentially of great moment", and that this was a matter where the Minister for Health would like to be heard,
Joan Cronin, a single woman and retired bakery assistant, claims she was and remains entitled to free in-patient services, and is entitled to be compensated by the State for the money she has paid towards the cost of her care in private nursing homes.
The costs of her care to date have been put at more than €53,000.
Ms Cronin also claims she is entitled to damages for alleged negligence and misfeasance in public office through the decisions to continue imposing charges for in-patient services on medical card holders.
Ms Cronin further alleges that she is in private care because of the State's failure to provide adequate public nursing home care.
She says she sought a place in Macroom District Hospital prior to initiating her legal proceedings.
As no regulations have yet been passed empowering the Minister for Health to levy charges on the recipients of in-patient services, she remains entitled to free medical care, Ms Cronin contends.
Once such regulations were passed, and she was advised this would happen around October 2005, she would be bound by those.
However, her accrued entitlement to a refund would not be affected.
Yesterday, senior counsel David Holland, for Ms Cronin, attended before Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan to make an application on behalf of Ms Cronin for leave to take judicial review proceedings seeking orders and declarations against the Health Service Executive, the Minister for Health, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Counsel said the case related to persons forced to go into private nursing home care because of the State's failure to provide public nursing home services.
Such leave applications are normally made on an ex parte basis (only one side being represented).
However, after Mr Hogan told the court the proceedings were "potentially of great moment" and that this was a matter where the Minister for Health would like to be heard, Mr Justice O'Sullivan said he would treat the application for leave as having been moved. No person on this island could be unaware of the matters involved in the case, the judge added.
The judge said he would adjourn the matter for mention on June 6th with a view to getting a date for a full hearing of the application for leave.
In an affidavit grounding the leave application, Ms Cronin said she is a resident of Áras Aoibhinn nursing home, Gurteenroe, Macroom, Co Cork.
She had worked as a bakery assistant in Macroom, and had long since retired.
Over the last several years she had not enjoyed good health, and could not live independently. She had been in nursing home care since May 2002. In that month, she entered Madonna House nursing home, Ballincollig, Cork, and since January 2004 she had been a resident of Áras Aoibhinn.
Until November 4th last, she was unaware she was entitled to in-patient services, including nursing home services, under the provisions of the Health Act 1970, as amended. Her family solicitors had made her aware of her entitlement in November 2004.
Ms Cronin said she had been assessed as being of "maximum dependency" under the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations 1993, in that she was a person whose independence was impaired to the extent she required constant nursing care. She needed help with dressing, washing and suffered from incontinence.
She understood the current cost of her maintenance at Áras Aoibhinn was €650 a week.
She received €150.67 from the Health Service Executive and the remainder was paid by her nephew, Hugh O'Brien, to whom she had transferred her home and he had undertaken to pay her nursing home expenses. Her only other income was the old age pension of €182.20.
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