Respect row over Savita death

Health chiefs have been accused of a lack of respect over the publication of a report into the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar.

Respect row over Savita death

Health chiefs have been accused of a lack of respect over the publication of a report into the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar.

Her widower Praveen is out of the country and his lawyer has claimed that he was unable to see the final draft from an internal inquiry and was not told that it would be made public today.

It is understood the report has identified inadequate monitoring of Ms Halappanavar as one of the key reasons for her death in Galway University Hospital after she suffered a miscarriage and was denied a termination.

Mr Halappanavar’s solicitor Gerard O’Donnell said he was only notified of the publication late last night via email.

“I suppose what surprised me the most was the sudden rush to get it published,” he said.

“I would have liked an opportunity to talk to him and to be able to alert him to the fact that the report is to be published and so he in turn could talk to his own family and Savita’s family and be prepared for the publication.

Mr O’Donnell added: “It is very unfortunate and a little disrespectful of Praveen and his late wife.”

Mr Halappanavar is out of the country for a few days.

His lawyer told RTE that he thought they would be given an opportunity to see a final draft of the inquiry team’s report before it would be published.

No one is named in the report.

The review was headed by Dr Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, an internationally- renowned doctor in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology.

Mr O’Donnell said the 108-page report, which includes a series of recommendations, was robust and would be studied by hospitals around the country.

“It bears out what my client has always said – the significant shortcomings across the board in the treatment of his late wife Savita,” Mr O’Donnell said.

“It identifies a number of key causal factors which contributed to, indeed resulted in, her death.”

The HSE will officially launch the report in Dublin this afternoon.

Mrs Halappanavar, 31, died on October 28 last year at Galway University Hospital. She was 17 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to the hospital a week earlier undergoing a miscarriage. She suffered from septicaemia.

Her husband has maintained that she repeatedly requested a termination but was refused because a foetal heartbeat was present.

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