The HSE has decided not to seek High Court orders permitting it to take a DNA sample from an unidentified vulnerable elderly man while he is still alive.
Gardaí have informed the HSE that a DNA sample can be taken just as quickly after the man’s death, counsel outlined when the case was before High Court president Ms Justice Mary Irvine on Monday. She observed the plan, set out in a letter from the man’s treating psychiatrist, did not precisely state what was proposed should happen if, for example, the man sustained an infection or required CPR.The man, who was made a ward of court last September, was first admitted to the psychiatric hospital after being taken there by gardaí in the mid-1980s.
He has a history of mental illness, along with physical health conditions. The wardship application was initiated in May 2020 because his physical health was deteriorating and he had had a number of hospital admissions.