Elderly woman lived in ‘truly awful’ conditions, court hears

An elderly psychiatrically ill woman lived in such "truly awful" filthy conditions in her home, with no electricity or heating, it will have to be chemically cleaned by staff wearing specialist clothing, the High Court has heard.

A cleaning company managing director who inspected the house this week described the conditions as “the worst he has ever seen”.

The president of the High Court was told that the rooms were full of bags of rubbish and that the woman’s bed could hardly be seen for rubbish. The mess had created an odour and attracted flies and insects. The garden was also full of rubbish and neighbours reported seeing rats outside.

The woman, whom psychiatrists reported as holding delusions and paranoid beliefs, was so fearful she did not sleep at night and filled rooms with bags of rubbish to deter intruders. The cleaning company had to take doors off hinges to access some rooms.

Her court appointed guardian Catherine Ghent told Mr Justice Peter Kelly it was “extremely upsetting” to see the state of the house and her view was, “on any human level”, the woman cannot go back there.

Immediate removal

When the judge was first alerted to the woman’s situation last month, he directed her immediate removal to hospital where she remains.

He also directed an assessment by a court appointed medical visitor of the woman’s capacity in the context of an inquiry in to whether she should be made a ward of court.

The woman was prepared to go to hospital but objected to wardship or a nursing home.

When the case returned before the judge on Thursday, he noted the medical visitor’s report and other psychiatric reports, including one obtained by Ms Ghent, all took the view she lacks capacity to make decisions about her welfare.

On foot of those, the judge said he must dismiss her objection to wardship and make her a ward of court.

Because she is continuing to have hospital treatment, he directed she should remain there but noted that was considered unsuitable in the longer term and said nursing home options should be explored.

He stressed he will later inquire into why an undertaking by solicitors who had acted for her in a personal injury case to seek wardship after she secured a €160,000 award was not complied with.

The “tragedy” is, all the time the woman was living in “truly awful” conditions of “considerable squalor”, she was a person of means with €160,000 lodged in court for her.

Nursing home

The €160,000 may now go towards funding nursing home care but the woman’s situation, including her capacity, will remain under review.

The judge also said he was prepared to direct funds be provided to pay for a trip to Lourdes for the woman as she had indicated a desire to go there.

In an affidavit, Ms Ghent outlined the woman’s views as expressed during various meetings with her in hospital.

The woman several times resisted giving Ms Ghent the keys to her home but eventually did so and described what would be faced in each room.

Ms Ghent said the woman was embarrassed about the condition of the house but was also concerned items she had ordered from catalogues, still in unopened packaging, would be thrown out.

The woman had said she was happy in the hospital unit and staff were kind to her but at a later stage was unhappy over being moved to a different ward.

She was delighted to be told her cat, which had been found in very poor condition, is doing very well following veterinary treatment.