Scottish Catholic Observer

The jury in the inquest into the death of an Indian woman in hospital in Ireland four days after suffering a miscarriage has given a verdict of medical misadventure.

Savita Halappanavar (above), 31, died in University Hospital Galway last October.

The inquest heard the cause of death was septic shock and E coli and the jury unanimously backed the finding of the coroner, Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin, who said the verdict does not imply failings in systems at the hospital contributed to the woman’s death.

The jury endorsed all nine of the recommendations made by the coroner’s to prevent such a tragedy occurring again.

The coroner’s first recommendation was that the Irish Medical Council lay out new guidelines on when doctors can intervene to save the life of a mother.

Other recommendations are that blood samples are always followed up to ensure errors do not occur; that proper sepsis management training and guidelines are available for hospital staff and that there is effective communication between staff on call and those coming on duty in hospitals.

Prior to the inquest, Ms Hapappanavar’s family and pro-abortion activists had claimed she might have survived if she had been given an abortion when admitted to hospital.

Abortion is not legal in Ireland unless it occurs as the result of a medical intervention performed to save the life of the mother. Midwife Ann Maria Burke admitted at the inquest that she told Mrs Halappanavar that Ireland was ‘a Catholic country’ by way of explaining the law.

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