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IRELAND - INQUEST OPENS INTO DEATH OF INDIA WOMAN DENIED ABORTION IN IRELAND

A woman holds a picture of Savita Halappanava during a candle lit vigil outside Belfast City Hall, Northern Ireland, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (AP / Peter Morrison)

The Associated Press - April 8, 2013

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The widower of an Indian woman who died in an Irish hospital after being denied an abortion has told a coroner's inquest that a doctor denied her a termination on the ground that "Ireland is a Catholic country."

Praveeen Halappanavar made a lengthy statement Monday at the start of an investigation into why his 31-year-old wife, Savita, died at University Galway Hospital last October.

The hospital has already apologized. The inquest seeks to determine whether Halappanavar died because her miscarrying fetus was not aborted despite severe pain.

She died from blood poisoning and organ failure four days after the fetus' heartbeat stopped and its remains were removed.

The case has sparked protests on both sides of the abortion debate in Ireland, where the practice remains outlawed except in life-threatening cases.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/08/abortion-refusal-death-ireland-hindu-woman/print

IRELAND - ABORTION REFUSAL DEATH OF HINDU WOMAN IN IRELAND

Savita Halappanavar's husband asked hospital staff why Irish abortion law was being imposed on a Hindu couple, inquest told

Henry McDonald, Ireland Correspondent - 8 April 2013 

The husband of an Indian woman who died after being denied an abortion at an Irish hospital broke down in tears on Monday as he described how they pleaded that as Hindus they were not morally opposed to a termination that could have saved her life.

Praveen Halappanavar repeated his claim that a doctor, named at the inquest in Galway as Dr Katherine Astbury, told him that a termination could not be performed because "this is a Catholic country".

His 31-year-old wife, Savita, died at University College hospital in Galway on 28 October last year, eight days after being admitted. She had been 17 weeks pregnant. Her case has become the focus of international debate and protests over Ireland's strict laws on abortion.

Halappanavar told the inquest that he and his wife had been sent home from the hospital on Sunday 21 October, but returned a couple of hours later because she was in severe pain. He was later told that his wife was miscarrying.

"Savita was crying loudly," Halappanavar told the court. He said a doctor told him: "'You have to be brave' – he said the baby won't arrive. Both of us were shattered – we didn't know what to do."

The following Tuesday when they returned to the hospital, Halappanavar said, they both asked the medical team to perform a termination. In total the couple made three requests for an emergency termination, he said.

"Savita asked for a termination two times. Savita was in tears. She said she could not take it. The doctor did not come back that day," Halappanavar said. "Savita asked a doctor when she could plan the next pregnancy. She was told she had to get well first. She wanted a termination; she wanted it before her parents arrived back in India and started telling people she was pregnant."

Halapannavar said his wife then asked Astbury on the Tuesday for the termination. He claimed that the couple were told: "This is a Catholic country – we cannot terminate because the foetus is still alive."

He said his wife then told the doctor that she was a Hindu and not an Irish citizen.

Declan Buckley, the senior barrister for the hospital and for the Republic's Health Service Executive, said there were differences between what Halappanavar said happened and the hospital's account.

Halappanavar claimed to the inquest that retrospective entries had been made in the medical notes.

The inquest has been told that the evidence of Astbury, a consultant obstetrician, will say there was only one discussion about a termination, on Tuesday 23 October.

Astbury says a termination was not warranted at that time as there was no threat to Mrs Halappanavar's life.

The inquest, chaired by Dr Ciaran McLoughlin, continues.