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Kitty Holland the woman who originally broke the Savita Halappanavar
story which proved to be full of contradictions now
writes in the Irish Times
about the contents of the as yet unpublished report under the banner, ‘Savita
Halappanavar death report finds foetus, not mother, was main focus’.
The Health Service Executive report on the death last year
at Galway University Hospital of Savita Halappanavar according to Ms Holland has
found there was an overemphasis by hospital staff on the welfare of Ms
Halappanavar’s unviable foetus and an underemphasis on her deteriorating
health.
The final draft report says: “The investigating team
considers there was an apparent overemphasis on the need not to intervene until
the foetal heart stopped, together with an underemphasis on the need to focus
an appropriate attention on monitoring for and managing the risk of infection
and sepsis in the mother.”
Praveen Halappanavar, the husband of Savita, is dissatisfied
with the report, which was delivered to his solicitor, Gerard O’Donnell, on
Friday.
Husband unhappy with report into Savita’s death
Crucial evidence yet to come from medics involved in care of
Savita
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He has instructed Mr O’Donnell and his medical adviser to
meet the chairman of the investigating team, Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran,
later this week to submit their observations.
Key issues
Last night Mr O’Donnell outlined to The Irish Times the key
issues arising from the report. It finds that on admission to the Galway
University Hospital on Sunday, October 21st, Ms Halappanavar’s white blood-cell
count was elevated, which indicated her body was fighting an infection.
It finds her vital signs were inadequately monitored; that
she was seriously ill by the evening of Tuesday 23rd, but that this was not
acted on; that her team saw her on the morning of Wednesday 24th and she had
further deteriorated, and still this was not acted on adequately; that further
blood samples were not taken until later that day and that the High Dependency
Unit did not get involved until the Wednesday evening, after the foetal
heartbeat had stopped.
It is also revealed in the report that the possibility of
performing an abortion was discussed by the medical team on the Wednesday. Mr
Halappanavar was unaware this had been discussed. The couple’s request for a
termination on the Tuesday is acknowledged in the report, but not in Ms
Halappanavar’s medical notes. Having read through the report, Mr Halappanavar
is said to feel it does not address why his wife died.
‘Not satisfied’
“No, he is not satisfied because it doesn’t answer the
question why was the request for the termination not acceded to even when she
became ill and her life was in danger, why wasn’t it acted upon then,” said Mr
O’Donnell.
Ms Halappanavar died on October 28th of septicaemia and
E.coli, having presented with severe back pain on October 21st. She was found
to be miscarrying and was told it would be over in “a few hours”, Mr
Halappanavar has said. However, his wife was still miscarrying on Wednesday
afternoon. Her husband has said they asked repeatedly for a termination from
the Monday but were refused because the foetal heartbeat remained and they were
told, “this is a Catholic country”.
Asked whether his client had a view as to why his wife died,
Mr O’Donnell said he did. “He does have a sense why – that when the request for
a termination was made she was told, ‘This is a Catholic country and this is
the law’. He feels there could have been and should have been a termination and
that’s what they were told. Of course that doesn’t come out in the report.”
Kitty Holland the woman who originally broke the Savita Halappanavar
story which proved to be full of contradictions now writes in the Irish Times
about the contents of the as yet unpublished report under the banner, ‘Savita
Halappanavar death report finds foetus, not mother, was main focus’.
