Widower of woman denied abortion rejects Irish probe of her death

Demonstrators holding placards and candles in memory of Indian Savita Halappanavar protest in support of legislative change in Ireland's abortion laws, during a march from the Garden of Remembrance to the Dail (Irish Parliament) in Dublin, November 17, 2012. Ireland's tough abortion laws came under fire following the death of Halappanavar after doctors allegedly refused her a termination because it was against the laws of the Catholic country. / PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty Images

DUBLIN The widower of an Indian woman who died in an Irish hospital after being refused an abortion has rejected the terms of a government-ordered investigation into what went wrong.

Praveen Halappanavar and his lawyer said Tuesday that the planned inquiry was unlikely to reach truthful conclusions because it would be private, have no witnesses testify under oath, and allows senior doctors at the Galway hospital where his wife died to serve as investigators.

Halappanavar told The Irish Times he wanted "a fully independent inquiry so that the truth will come out. It does bother me that there are people from Galway hospital on the inquiry."

His lawyer Gerard O'Donnell said his client would not testify to the probe or authorize it to view his wife's medical records, a potentially crippling blow to its work. O'Donnell said it was unacceptable that the government's Health Service Executive had appointed three University Hospital Galway doctors to the seven-member panel.

"He has no faith in the HSE. It's important to remember that he lost his wife whilst under the care of the HSE," O'Donnell said.

• Outrage grows after death of woman denied life-saving abortion
• Parents slam Irish abortion laws after woman dies
• Husband: Ireland hospital denied Savita Halappanavar life saving abortion because it is a "Catholic country"

The chairman of the fact-finding probe, Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, said he hoped to have a face-to-face meeting with Halappanavar to persuade him to change his mind because his witness testimony on his wife's care would be central to identifying problems.

Arulkumaran, a native Sri Lankan who practices and teaches at St. George's Hospital in London, is one of the world's leading authorities on fetal monitoring and maternal health.

Savita Halappanavar died Oct. 28 from blood poisoning one week after being hospitalized suffering from severe pain. The 31-year-old dentist was quickly diagnosed with an imminent miscarriage, with her cervix already dilating and amniotic fluid leaking.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, was 17 weeks pregnant.

/ Courtesy of The Irish Times

As her pain and illness increased, her husband said, they repeatedly requested an abortion of her 17-week-old fetus but doctors refused because it still had a heartbeat.

Praveen Halappanavar said one of the doctors insisted they couldn't remove a living fetus because Ireland "is a Catholic country." He said five hospital officials and a family friend witnessed this Oct. 24 comment at his wife's bedside.

After the fetus died Oct. 25, its remains were surgically removed, but Savita Halappanavar's health rapidly faded as internal infections spread and her internal organs gradually failed. A coroner determined she died from blood poisoning and e.coli bacteria potentially contracted at the hospital.

The case has highlighted Ireland's failure to legislate in line with a two-decade-old Supreme Court judgment that women should receive abortions in cases where the pregnancy places their life at risk. The court found this should be the only exception to Ireland's constitutional ban on abortion.

Halappanavar is the first person to speak out accusing Irish authorities of jeopardizing a pregnant patient's health because of the abortion ban. The government declines to provide statistics or any details on the provision of life-saving abortions in its hospitals.

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[THALES457]

NOW IRELAND KEEPS ITSELF IN CHAINS.

[OnTheRoad01]

Problem is that the extreme far right (no matter the country) say that they and they alone have the ability to tell everyone else what to beleive! Is that not what we say is wrong with the extreme Muslims????

[rwsmith29456]

Remind me not to go to a hospital in Galway.

[csuresh]

This is what is in store for us Americans if the Republican party is successful in repealing Rove v/s Wade and abortion is made illegal for any reason as was adopted in the party's platform.

[beelaboola]

So sad. People continue to follow religions conceived in the Stone Age--before electricity was discovered, before refrigeration, microscopes, telescopes, advanced surgical methods, etc., etc. Because of that, this woman had to die. It is not logical to follow beliefs created by people who didn't know their ass from their elbow. People don't eat pork, don't use electrical appliances, isolate themselves from other people, and disallow abortions because of their ignorance and their following of ignorant religious rules. "Life" that can fit on the head of a pin is deemed more important than the life of a woman who already exists--a woman who has nerves, children, friends, and family. How many centuries these backward people will continue to be backward is anyone's guess. In the meantime, I wouldn't even visit Ireland knowing that such terrible practices are followed. Even sadder, right here in the US we are surrounded by barbarians who support the unborn but not the born, who wouldn't adopt a kid or pay a nickel more in taxes to support the child. They make it very difficult for most women to have abortions, and are to a large extent responsible for unwanted and abused children, and overpopulation and everything that causes.

[erich_1-2009]

I think that blocking the red dot out of her picture is really silly!

[SusanStoHelit]

"Halappanavar is the first person to speak out accusing Irish authorities of jeopardizing a pregnant patient's health because of the abortion ban. The government declines to provide statistics or any details on the provision of life-saving abortions in its hospitals."

Can't provide statistics when none exist! It's sick to let your religion cause others to die. You can choose to risk your own life for your own beliefs, but to force that on others - this is why times when religion and politics are mixed are called the Dark Ages!