Woman who asked to be released from mental hospital is lawfully detained, judge decides

Judge Kelly said that when he returned from holiday towards the end of last month he received a letter from the woman which had been personally addressed to him.

A woman who wrote to High Court President, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, asking him to free her from a mental hospital is lawfully detained, the judge decided today.

Judge Kelly said that when he returned from holiday towards the end of last month he received the letter which had been personally addressed to him.

In it the lady concerned had told him she was being detained against her will in a mental hospital and forced to receive medication which she had repeatedly told medical staff she did not want to take.

“I therefore ask you to release me because my continued detention in these circumstances is a breach of my constitutional rights,” the woman, who cannot be identified, said.

Judge Kelly told barrister Donal McGuinness, counsel for the hospital concerned, that he had immediately set an Article 40 inquiry in place in open court and had asked the hospital to produce the lady in court today.

Julia Fox, counsel for the woman concerned, had asked the court to consider the proceedings also as an appeal against her detention but Judge Kelly ruled this was a matter that would have to be dealt with on appeal to the Circuit Court.

He said the only matter before the High Court was an inquiry into the legality of the hospital patient’s detention and he was satisfied from the documentation and evidence provided by the hospital, which had co-operated promptly with the court,,that the lady concerned was in being lawfully detained.

The President complimented the hospital very highly on its presentation of the basis of her detention and treatment pursuant to the Mental Health Act.