Hiqa board considers request for Savita inquiry
“There’s absolutely no entry by the medical team of this in the medical records,” he told RTÉ.
In response Mr O’Brien said any information that Mr Halappanavar had that would “speak to any inconsistencies between what’s in the record and his personal knowledge would be of great value to the review team”.
He also that the HSE was not as “aware as it should have been of the wider context that was emerging” and was focused on the “clinical aspects” in its inquiry.
Asked about the inclusion of three Galway clinicians in the original review team, he said Minister for Health Dr James Reilly was not aware of the total composition before it was announced because that was a matter for the HSE.
Once the HSE heard the concerns of the family it took steps to have the Galway clinicians stand down, he said.
Earlier today, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton welcomed President Michael D Higgins’s intervention in the controversy over the inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar.
Ms Burton said she had read and heard the comments made by the President and believed they were considerate, thoughtful and humane, she added.
President Michael D Higgins yesterday intervened in the continuing row over the inquiry into the death of Ms Halappanavar, saying it must meet the needs of her family as well as those of the State.
Ms Burton was replying in the Dáil this morning to Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher who questioned how the inquiry could proceed.
"The family do not want it," he added. “Some of your own colleagues do not want it at this stage. And our President has told you it is clearly wrong."
When Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett intervened to say that the President could not be referred to in debate in the House, and that the constitutional position of the office should be respected. Mr Kelleher said Mr Higgins was reflecting the views of the Irish people.
President Higgins' unprecedented comments will increase the pressure on the Government to recast the investigation in response to continuing opposition from her husband Praveen.
Mr Halappanavar is seeking a sworn public inquiry, has refused to co-operate and made a threat of legal challenge by his lawyers if his wife's medical records are made available to the inquiry team.
"If they use those records then I will certainly be on to the data protection office and it may well be that that also involves bringing a court application by way of an injunction to restrain them from using those records," his solicitor Gerard O'Donnell told RTÉ's Prime Time last night.
