Grant of an attendance allowance to a severely disabled insured person

Facts

Jeannette Ghia, an Italian born in 1889 suffering from pseudo-dwarfism and hypertension since childhood, was cared for by the Medical Assistance Service of the canton of Geneva in her old age. On 6 December 1971, she instructed the Geneva Cantonal Compensation Fund to pay her AVS pension to this service. On 2 April 1979, the management of the Maison de Loëx, where Jeannette Ghia was housed, requested an attendance allowance for her, and she died on 20 August 1979. The Geneva Cantonal Compensation Fund refused this allowance on the grounds that the insured person was not severely disabled in the sense of Art. 43bis OASIA. The Maison de Loëx appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the Cantonal Appeals Commission in AVS matters.

Considerations

The Federal Insurance Court allowed the appeal. It considered that the Maison de Loëx, acting on behalf of the Medical Assistance Service, had standing to request the attendance allowance, as this service had a duty of assistance towards the insured person and was affected by the decision.

On the merits, the Court held that Jeannette Ghia was severely disabled in the sense of Art. 43bis OASIA, although she could bring food to her mouth with her fingers. It considered that it would be inequitable to deny her the allowance solely on the ground that she was allowed to feed herself in this way, when the disability insurance grants subsidies to enable insured persons to normally…