The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a woman detained for psychiatric treatment at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, finding that the order authorising her detention at the time of the proceedings was lawful.
E.H., who had lived alone in south County Dublin, had been receiving psychiatric treatment during 2008 following episodes of serious illness and self-neglect. She was admitted involuntarily to the hospital’s Elm Mount Psychiatric Unit and was treated with psychiatric medication.
A Mental Health Tribunal revoked a renewal order on December 10, 2008 because a date had been omitted from the relevant form. E.H. then remained in the unit without an admission or renewal order. Her consultant psychiatrist, Dr Aideen Freyne, said she verbally agreed to stay, although hospital records stated that she lacked capacity to sign a voluntary admission form because of dementia and mental illness.
On December 22, E.H. attempted to leave. The hospital invoked sections 23 and 24 of the Mental Health Act 2001, leading to a fresh involuntary admission. That detention was later affirmed by a Mental Health Tribunal and followed by further renewal orders.
E.H. argued that she had not truly been a voluntary patient between December 10 and 22 and that this made the later detention procedures unlawful. The respondents disputed that interpretation and argued that, in any event, her current detention rested on later valid orders.
Mr Justice Kearns held that the Act defines a voluntary patient as someone receiving care and treatment in an approved centre who is not subject to an admission or renewal order. He found sufficient evidence to support the High Court’s conclusion that E.H. fell within that definition during the disputed period.
The Supreme Court also held that the case was moot because the detention being challenged had been replaced by subsequent valid orders. It rejected the argument that any earlier defect automatically invalidated later detention and dismissed the appeal.