Ireland abortion: Poor care killed Indian woman

DUBLIN: A pregnant Indian woman who died in an Irish hospital after she was refused an abortion was the victim of medical misadventure, a jury at her inquest ruled yesterday in a case that has focused attention on the Catholic country’s tough abortion laws.
Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist, died of septicemia last October in a hospital in Galway on Ireland’s west coast, after suffering a miscarriage.
Her husband Praveen claimed his wife had repeatedly asked for a termination, but the request was refused “because Ireland is a Catholic country.”
The allegation sparked fierce debate about Ireland’s abortion laws, although the inquest heard that Savita was refused the termination because there was still a fetal heartbeat.
A senior midwife admitted at the inquest in Galway that she told Savita she could not have an abortion because of Ireland’s Catholicism, but said she was simply trying to explain the law.
Coroner Ciaran McLoughlin stressed that the verdict of death by medical misadventure did not mean that systemic failures by the hospital caused Savita’s death.
McLoughlin also said during the inquest that Irish state-run hospitals did not operate under religious dogma of any persuasion. Abortion is illegal in Ireland unless there is a substantial risk to the life of the mother.