{"id":519321,"date":"2026-06-26T10:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519321\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:37:08","slug":"boy-with-autism-detained-in-windowless-hospital-room-for-12-weeks-due-to-lack-of-placement-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/519321\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy with autism detained in windowless hospital room for 12 weeks due to lack of placement \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A non-verbal boy with autism<\/a> and an intellectual disability has been detained in a windowless hospital room on an adult ward for 12 weeks because there is no suitable placement for him, the High Court<\/a> has heard. <\/p>\n

Judge Mark Heslin heard on Thursday the boy had lost part of his right index finger in an incident involving a door in the hospital on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

While his continued detention in the hospital vindicated his right to life, it prejudiced other rights, the judge said. <\/p>\n

He described it as \u201cone of the most complex cases\u201d the Health Service Executive<\/a> (HSE) had \u201cever\u201d had to resolve. <\/p>\n

The young teenager was placed in the hospital\u2019s care on March 31st after two residential placements broke down. <\/p>\n

While at home he frequently ran away, threw himself from heights, ran into lakes and engaged in \u201cself-injurious behaviour including head banging and biting\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the hospital he has no access to the outdoors. Despite the best efforts of staff to care for him the situation was \u201cdire\u201d said Niall McGrath, solicitor for the boy\u2019s guardian ad litem (Gal). <\/p>\n

Separate counsel for each of the boy\u2019s parents said they wanted him moved from the hospital to a suitable placement \u201cimmediately\u201d. <\/p>\n

Tabitha Wood, barrister for the father, said fears expressed by the mother in early June that \u201csomething truly awful is going to happen as the situation continues to deteriorate\u201d had come to pass. <\/p>\n

The boy, who is right-handed, had \u201clost the top of his first finger on his right hand\u201d. It was \u201csimply unacceptable\u201d that the HSE could not provide a comprehensive report to the court on how it happened, said Wood. <\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s finger part was \u201con ice\u201d the court heard with surgery scheduled for Friday to reattach it. <\/p>\n

Ciaran Craven, for the mother, said she was in a \u201cchasm of despair\u201d that there were no \u201cnear prospects of [the situation] being remedied\u201d. <\/p>\n

A residential placement for the boy would require up to 25 highly trained staff, said the HSE. He would need three-to-one staffing initially, on a 24-hour basis. <\/p>\n

One provider had been identified, counsel for the HSE said. This placement could begin in July but no details were available. <\/p>\n

The \u201cshock and distress\u201d the \u201cdevoted parents\u201d must be feeling on hearing of the \u201cvery serious injury\u201d their son had sustained \u201ccan only be imagined\u201d, said Heslin. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne would want to be made of stone not to be moved by the distress of these devoted parents,\u201d he said. An investigation into how the incident happened was \u201cvery obviously needed as matter of extreme urgency\u201d and the outcome provided as soon as possible to parents and the Gal. <\/p>\n

If there was anywhere else the boy could be kept safe the judge would \u201chave no hesitation\u201d in ordering he be moved there, said the judge. <\/p>\n

But he was \u201cfaced with a situation where there is as things stand no alternative where [the boy] would be safer\u201d. <\/p>\n

It was \u201cbeyond concerning that this is the best, in other words the least-worst, alternative available for our fellow citizen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Listing the case for an update on Monday he said: \u201cI have no alternative on the evidence before me but to authorise, with the heaviest of hearts [the boy\u2019s] detention and restriction in a hospital … there simply is no alternative where his very right to life can be vindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A non-verbal boy with autism and an intellectual disability has been detained in a windowless hospital room on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6128,72,1418,73,61,60],"class_list":["post-519321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-autism","tag-business","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-high-court","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}