Anorexic girl ‘missing Ireland terribly’ during UK treatment

A teenage girl with severe anorexia has written to the President of the High Court appealing to be let return to Ireland from a specialist unit in the UK for a visit.

The girl, who is still being tube fed 10 months after moving to the unit, is among several young Irish people being treated in the UK due to the absence of a specialist facility here for people with severe anorexia.

She told the judge she had come a long way and was working hard to improve her condition but wanted home visits as she was “missing Ireland terribly” and needed something “to motivate me”.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he was sympathetic to the girl's request but the medical evidence was that her situation remained serious. He said he would review her request again in the lead up to Christmas.

Peter Finlay SC, for the HSE, has earlier said the girl’s life was in danger at one point and, while there had been some improvement, the medical reports stated a home visit involved a high risk of relapse.

The 17-year-old was made a ward of court after it was found, due to anorexia, she lacked capacity to make decisions in the best interests of her health and welfare.

Patricia Hickey, general solicitor for wards of court, was appointed to represent her interests and, in a report to the court, said she visited the girl last month and considered, while she had improved, she remained "far from being well".

Mr Justice Kelly said, on admission to the UK unit last January, the girl weighed 35kg and had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 13.67.

Obsessive compulsive disorder

She had been diagnosed with severe anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Her condition has improved in that she now weighs 43kg and has a BMI of 16.69 but she is still fed by a tube to ensure she gets nutrition.

The judge said he would be the first to allow her visit if satisfied from medical evidence that it would benefit her but the evidence stated a discharge now carried a high likelihood of relapse of her physical and psychiatric state and, while she has made progress, she remains in a “fragile mental state” with little insight into the serious nature of her illness.

He would list the case in December when, if evidence suggested she can tolerate a visit home over Christmas, he would be sympathetic. Her voice had and would be heard and she should continue to have hope and to see a visit as a realistic prospect, he stressed.

In a second case also involving a severely anorexic girl, the judge made orders for her transfer from one UK eating disorders unit to another. He noted the girl has made substantial progress and her weight has risen from 39kg to 54.6kg while her BMI had risen from 15.52 to 20.91.

However, reports made clear there was “a lot more to her difficulties than anorexia” and she continues to suffer a high level of anxiety.