A Co Galway teacher has asked the High Court to allow him sue two doctors, three gardai and his wife, from whom he is separated, over his alleged wrongful admission to a psychiatric hospital.
Mr Louis Blehein (60) claims he was taken from his home and detained for 10 weeks against his will at St John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Co Dublin, in 1987.
A secondary school teacher, of St Brigid's Avenue, Portumna, Mr Blehein is seeking leave to sue the defendants for damages for alleged fraud, conspiracy to defraud, libel, slander, defamation of character, unlawful arrest, unlawful imprisonment and breach of his constitutional rights.
The defendants are Dr Sean G. Murphy, St Brendan's Road, Portumna; Dr Fionnuala Kennedy (now retired), St Joseph's Road, Portumna; Mrs Patricia Blehein, St Brigid's Avenue, Portumna; Det Garda Richard Quinlivan, Thornfield, Portumna; Garda Thomas O'Connor, Portumna, and Garda Desmond Nolan, Ballinasloe, Co Galway.
Presenting his own case yesterday, Mr Blehein said a medical certificate dated January 19th, 1987, was issued by Dr Murphy to his school authorities and the Department of Education which purported to certify that he was suffering from paranoid-type schizophrenia.
He believed Dr Murphy and Ms Blehein agreed on January 26th, 1987, to certify him as suffering from a mental illness without any medical examination and notwithstanding the fact that Dr Murphy had not spoken to him for over four months.
On January 29th, 1987, he was "set upon by a posse of four men" while eating lunch in his home. They were Brother James Davis (now deceased), a nurse of the Order of St John of God, Stillorgan, his own brother, Mr Brendan Blehein (also deceased) and Gardai O'Connor and Nolan.
He said a representation by Garda O'Connor that he was acting under statutory authority was fraudulent.
He said Dr Murphy and Dr Kennedy arrived at his home sometime after his arrest but neither examined him. When he asked why he was being taken to Stillorgan, he said Dr Murphy told him he would be informed when he got there.
Mr Blehein said his estranged wife signed the application for his reception in Stillorgan without first obtaining valid medical certificates based upon examination, as she was required to do by law.
All the defendants deny the claims. In an affidavit, Dr Murphy said he signed a medical certificate regarding Mr Blehein on January 29th, 1987, but back-dated it to explain Mr Blehein's absence from employment for a week from January 19th when Mr Blehein was mentally ill.
Dr Murphy said Mr Blehein had been diagnosed a paranoid schizophrenic. Since 1984 he had been admitted to St John of God's on no fewer than three occasions.
A week before Januaruy 29th, 1987, he asked the gardai in Portumna to provide an escort to take Mr Blehein to Stillorgan. He did this because of Mr Blehein's violent actions prior to his first admission in 1984 when he assaulted his wife in the family home.
In her affidavit, Mrs Blehein said her husband was activated by malice against her.
The hearing continues today.