Mentally ill woman gets €60k in back welfare payments

MENTALLY ill patients who had their welfare payments stopped when they were admitted to psychiatric hospitals could be eligible for repayments totalling hundreds of thousands of euro following a landmark court settlement.

Both the Department of Health and the Department of Social and Family Affairs insisted last night that, because the case was settled without admission of liability on their part, it had no repercussions outside of the individual plaintiff. However, legal observers said the case could be used by other patients to make similar claims.

The case was taken by a woman, identified only as EOR, who has acute schizophrenia and has been in full-time psychiatric care for 25 years. She was yesterday granted a sum of €60,000 in settlement of her claim for back payment of the Disabled Persons Maintenance Allowance and its successor, the Disability Allowance, after arguing the State was wrong to decide she was no longer entitled to them just because she was admitted to permanent care.

The case has echoes of the nursing home charges scandal, when it emerged that thousands of elderly people had their State pensions taken from them when they entered full-time care.

However, while that episode has so far cost the State more than €235 million in repayments to 39,000 applicants, it is far from clear what the financial consequences of the EOR case might be. About 3,300 people are in-patients in psychiatric hospitals, but the number was about 13,000 when EOR was admitted in 1983.

She suffered a double discrimination as a change in the law later allowed anyone admitted after August 1999 to claim the Disability Allowance, but excluded those already in hospital.

Solicitor Denis Boland, who took the case after being approached by EOR’s elderly parents, said they welcomed the settlement but were concerned that they had had to go to court to vindicate their daughter’s rights. He issued a statement on their behalf which said the loss of the welfare supports had put the family under considerable stress during a traumatic time in their lives.

“The family has taken this case in their daughter’s best interests, to assert her legal rights and to ensure that other individuals in mental institutions are aware of their rights and entitlements, both current and retrospective.

“The plaintiff’s family strongly feel that there is an onus on the relevant public bodies to ensure that patients and their families are paid the correct and legal entitlements so that those patients can enjoy some quality of life despite their mental condition,” it said.

While both the Departments of Health and Social and Family Affairs said the settlement, which was for a “significantly” lesser amount than originally sought by EOR, meant the matter was now closed but one legal source said he would be “very surprised” if there weren’t a considerable number of people who would now be in line for back payments.

“The only question is how may are still alive and how many would be mentally well enough to go through the paperwork and procedures to assert their rights.”

Brian Howard, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland, said he would also be giving the ruling close scrutiny to see what implications it had for other patients and families supported by the organisation.