Staff at an Irish hospital failed to adequately assess and monitor Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar who died after suffering a miscarriage, a key report on her death said on Thursday and warned that such incidents could happen again in the absence of clarity on abortion law. A clinical inquiry into the death of Savita, which was published on Thursday, found that the most likely cause of her death was infection - with the risk of infection and sepsis increasing after her waters broke.
Savita had died of septicaemia in her 17th week of pregnancy at University Hospital Galway and an inquest into her death held in April heard that she had been denied a potentially life-saving termination on the grounds that Ireland is a "Catholic country". Savita was admitted to the hospital on October 21.
Her husband Praveen Halappanavar said his wife had repeatedly asked for a termination but was refused because a foetal heartbeat was present. It was several hours before the decision to terminate her pregnancy was taken, but by this stage it was too late.
The review said there had been an over-emphasis on the need to not intervene until the foetal heartbeat stopped and not enough emphasis on the need to focus on monitoring and managing the risk of infection. Professor of obstetrics and gynaecology Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, who headed the review commissioned by the Health Service Executive (HSE), said the plan in her case had been to "await events", which he said
11:46 PM, Jun 13, 2013
London: The bereaved father of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar has vowed to take legal action against the Irish hospital where his daughter died after being denied abortion last October, saying he is not satisfied with the probe outcome. "I believe we will never get justice from the Irish government so we are definitely going to take legal action against the hospital (University Hospital Galway)," Andanappa Yalagi told the 'Irish Daily...
05:20 PM, Apr 24, 2013
Dublin: Ireland ordered a third probe into NRI doctor Savita Halapannavar's tragic death at a Galway hospital earlier this month after her dentist husband Praveen claimed that crucial papers relating to her repeated requests for abortion were missing from the Galway University Hospital's files. Halapannavar was miscarrying and had repeatedly requested her doctors for an abortion, a helpless plea that could not stand up against the firm Catholic traditions of... 
