Savita husband not happy with HSE report into death

Praveen Halappanavar seeks meeting with inquiry chairman over what solicitor described as 'shortcomings'

The husband of Savita Halappanavar is not satisfied with the conclusions of the final draft HSE report into her death, his solicitor Gerard O'Donnell has said.

The final draft report of the investigation team chaired by Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at St George's Hospital, University of London, was given to Praveen Halappanavar on Friday.

Mr O'Donnell said his client had instructed him to seek a meeting with Prof Arulkumaran later this week to outline his concerns.

The report makes three main recommendations which if implemented should no other woman dies in the way Ms Halappanavar did, Mr O'Donnell has said.

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"I am going to make contact with the chairperson tomorrow and try and arrange a meeting before the weekend," he said. "We will outline to the chairperson where we see shortcomings.

"It's a report trying to establish what happened without naming anybody. So from Praveen's point of view he wants to find out why this happened, why she was not treated, why she did not get treated."

Savita Halappanavar died at the Galway Hospital on October 28th, having presented a week earlier with severe back-pain. She was 17 weeks pregnant and was found to be miscarrying.

Mr Halappanavar has consistently said they asked repeatedly for a medical termination over a three-day period but that this was refused because the foetal heartbeat was still present and this "is a Catholic country".

She died in the hospital's intensive care unit of septicaemia and E.coli documented before she died.

The inquest into her death begins hearing evidence in Galway on April 8th.

A seven-member investigating team was announced by the HSE on November 19th, five days after her death was first publicised.

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland is Social Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times