Dying MS man fights to go home

The council will only pay for nursing home care

A man close to death from multiple sclerosis has been told by health bosses that he cannot spend the rest of his life being nursed at home.

Jason Powell, from Carmarthenshire in Wales, is only 33, and is thought to have only a few months to live.

However, he has been told by Dyfed-Powys Health Authority that he must move into a nursing home filled with the elderly.

If he were to go into a nursing home he would lose his will to live

Catrina Slater, Jason's solicitor

It has refused to pay the extra needed for full-time private nursing in his home village.

Now his relatives are taking the authority to court in a bid to force them to provide the money.

The case is due to be heard on Monday August 13.

Jason's solicitor, Catrina Salter, told the BBC: "The health authority has a policy that it will pay for 24 hour care in a nursing home, or the equivalent sum in private nursing at home.

"This amounts to £700 a week, which is not going to pay for 24 hour private nursing."

'Totally inappropriate'

She added: "It absolutely means everything to Jason.

"He tells me that if he were to go into a nursing home he would lose his will to live.

"He's only 33 years old, and it's clearly inappropriate to place him in a nursing home, where obviously the client group will be a lot older."

She said that it was a basic human right to have family life respected.

"He should be allowed to come home and live out the remainder of his life in as normal a way as possible."

The health authority issued a statement saying it was not allowed to comment on individual cases because of patient confidentiality.