Irish girl with severe anorexia close to renal failure, High Court hears
A teenage girl with severe anorexia who travelled from here to England to be assessed for treatment was found to be close to experiencing renal failure, the High Court has heard, .
Peter Finlay SC, for the HSE, mentioned the case to the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, today for the purpose of making an emergency application to have the girl made a ward of court.
After counsel said he required a short time to produce the necessary legal documents, the judge said he would hear the application on Thursday.
Mr Finlay mentioned the case shortly after the judge was told a young man with treatment resistant anorexia, while still very ill, appears to be making some progress after being placed recently in a specialist eating disorder facility in the UK.
The young man's case is the first involving a male with anorexia to come before the court.
All other cases before the High Court in recent years related to young women who, as with the young man, all appeared to be high achievers, the judge previously observed.
Because there is no specialist clinic for eating disorders here, several of those cases involved the making of orders for treatment in the UK.
The court previously heard treatment resistant anorexia carries a mortality rate of one in five.
The young man has suffered from the illness for years and doctors believe it is directly related to having been assaulted as a teenager.
He was made a ward of court last January arising from findings, due to his illness, he lacks capacity to appreciate the severity of it and to make appropriate decisions in the best interests of his health and welfare.
Orders were made last January for his transfer to the specialist unit in the UK but a bed only became available earlier this month.
