London: Midwives and nurses in Ireland have warned that staff shortages at maternity units in the country could lead to a repeat of system failures that were blamed for Savita Halappanavar's death. The 31-year-old dentist had died at Galway University Hospital on October 28, 2012, after a miscarriage at 17 weeks.
An inquest into her death in May was told how the medical team missed the early signs of blood poisoning that eventually killed her. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation's delegate conference in Donegal, Ireland, this week has heard that a moratorium on staff recruitment could lead to another similar tragedy.
"What happened in Galway could happen in any hospital in the country. Every day I leave my job I say 'Thank God the patients in my care are safe today'," said Maureen Hanlon, a midwife at Mayo General Hospital. According to the 'Irish Examiner', Anne Burke, a clinical nurse manager at University Hospital Galway (UHG), told the conference that maternity units were "winging it, every single day, in order to maintain some semblance of service to ante and post-natal women".
"Ireland's midwifery profession is, on a daily basis, holding the Irish maternity services together, but only on a shoestring," Burke said. She pointed out that maternity units like CUMH, which has a birth rate in the order of 9,000 per year, have been grossly understaffed, despite a Labour Court recommendation in February 2011 to employ at least 80 additional midwives in order to maintain safe
03:30 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: The Irish cabinet has reached an agreement which will allow limited legal abortions for the first time ever. This historic bill is part of legislative changes that were promised after Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died after she was denied a life-saving abortion. The new bill, which will have to be passed in both houses of the Irish Parliament, will allow for limited legal termination where there is a...
05:14 PM, May 01, 2013
London: The husband of an Indian dentist, who lost her life after being denied an abortion in Ireland, has indicated that he would consider further action in the case through the courts in Europe after a jury at her inquest ruled that she died of medical misadventure. An 11-member on Friday unanimously ruled that 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar died of "medical misadventure". Soon after the verdict, her husband Praveen Halappanavar said...
06:37 PM, Apr 20, 2013
London: Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar's husband on Friday said he is hopeful of a fair verdict in the inquest into his wife's death following a miscarriage in 2012. "I am still optimistic. The question that has always been in my mind is why Savita died. It has been very tough. Today was actually our wedding anniversary so it's even more hard. Hopefully there will be bright days ahead and something...
07:45 PM, Apr 19, 2013
London: The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has rejected a motion supporting regulation of abortion where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of a pregnant woman as in the case of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died as a result of miscarriage. The motion was defeated by 42 votes to 32 at the IMO's annual conference in Killarney. In the heated debate, doctors also voted against a...
09:29 AM, Apr 06, 2013
Ireland on Tuesday announced it will legalise abortions when the mother's life is at risk, weeks after the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after being refused an abortion in the European country. ...
10:20 PM, Dec 18, 2012
The husband of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died after being denied abortion, questions the credibility of the Irish government probe. ...
10:41 PM, Nov 22, 2012
Dublin: Ireland's Prime Minister said on Friday he would not be rushed into making a decision on the issue of abortion, after an Indian woman who was refused a termination died from blood poisoning in an Irish hospital. "This is a matter that has divided Irish society now for a great number of years, and I am not going to be rushed into a situation by force of numbers on...
11:15 AM, Nov 17, 2012
Irish Times reporter Kitty Holland, who first highlighted the case of the pregnant Indian woman's death, talks about the fallout of the incident. ...
11:48 PM, Nov 15, 2012
Ankara: Thousands of demonstrators on Monday staged the largest protest yet against plans by Turkey's Islamic-rooted government to curb abortion, which critics say will amount to a virtual ban. Around 3,000 women, their ages ranging from 20 to 60 years old, gathered at a square in Istanbul's Kadikoy district carrying banners that read "my body, my choice," while shouting anti-government slogans. Many were accompanied by husbands and boyfriends. One man...
11:00 AM, Jun 04, 2012
