A SOUTH African woman, who has been detained in a Cork hospital for almost a year with a suspected strain of drug-resistant Tuberculosis (TB) is at the centre of a habeas corpus application to the High Court for her release.
The Irish Timeshas learned that the woman has been held in the hospital under Section 38 of the Health Act, 1947 since December 11th 2007.
The Act provides for the ongoing detention and segregation of a person who cannot be cared for in their home and who is a probable source of infection to be detained, "in a specified hospital or other place until medical officer gives a certificate that such person is no longer a probable source of infection."
The black woman, a mother of two, came to Ireland in late 2001 pregnant with her first child.
Her baby was born shortly afterwards, in October 2001.
She subsequently had a second child, with an Irish man, who is now caring for that child, while her first daughter has been taken into State care. The woman was treated for TB in South Africa some years before coming to Ireland, sources say.
She became ill here towards the end of 2006 and was initially treated as an in-patient and then an out-patient by the same Irish hospital where she is now being detained.
The diagnosis by medical staff is now being challenged by the woman, it is understood. The HSE then took an application for her detention and segregation last December. She has since refused treatment, and no specific test has been carried out to determine what, if any, form of TB she may be suffering.
On three separate occasions she has been assessed by a psychiatrist who has determined she is compos mentis (legally of sound mind).
Sources close to the woman say that there is a full-time security guard outside her hospital ward and hospital staff have become increasingly uneasy about the situation and are expressing their reservations privately.
The woman's children can see their mother only by prior arrangement, and then while wearing protective clothing.
The woman's mother is now taking a case against the State alleging that her daughter is being held against her will without ongoing treatment or medical testing.
It is understood that several concerned parties paid for her mother's passage to Ireland from South Africa last week when the habeas corpus application was made before the High Court in Cork.
The judge adjourned the case for mention to tomorrow when a date for a full hearing will be set.
There is concern among the legal profession that Section 38 of the Health Act, 1947 contains no possibility of review or release in this instance.
