Savita Halappanavar inquest told abortion might have prevented death

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Savita Halappanavar inquest told abortion might have prevented death

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
The Guardian, Wednesday 17 April 2013 17.36 BST

Savita Halappanavar would have survived if her pregnancy had been terminated days before she died of blood poisoning at Galway University Hospital last autumn, the inquest in Galway courthouse has heard.

But Dr Peter Boylan, the former head of Ireland's maternity hospitals, added that an abortion would not have been legal at that stage as her life was not at risk.

The obstetrician told the inquest that by 6.30am on Wednesday 24 October, Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old Indian dentist who was 17 weeks pregnant, had sepsis. "The real problem was the inability to terminate prior to Mrs Halappanavar developing a real or substantive risk to her life," Boylan said. "By that time it was effectively too late to save her life."

During his evidence, Boylan said there were deficiencies in Halappanavar's care. While none individually caused her death, an accumulation of failings delayed appropriate treatment, and each hour of delay increased the chance of her death by 6%, he said.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/17/savita-halappanavar-irish-court

[idwiyo]

1. Wonder if it ever crossed his head that as a doctor his duty was to save her life at any cost?

Doubt it of course. Protecting Holy Foetus is obviously more important.



RIP Savita Halappanavar.