Ireland Abortion Case Ends as Medical Misadventure. Claim as Catholic Policy Vindicated.

Jojy Cheriyan MD; MPH-April 20,2013

Ireland's law and catholic culture were blamed for the death of a young 31-year old Indian woman named Savita Halappanavar in October 2012. She was a dental doctor excited of her precious pregnancy and living her dream with her loving husband Mr. Praveen Halappanavar. The jury verdict of her death came out yesterday on the day of their 5th wedding anniversary, which was coincidental.

Her death became an international issue on a misleading report that she died despite pleading with the doctors to abort the child, to save her life, and doctors refused saying Ireland was a catholic country.

The truth is that no doctor said so and it was a mid-wife named Ann Maria Burke who made that remark to Savita's husband Praveen, without knowing the medical conditions of Savita. Ann Marie apologized for the inappropriate comment and said her intention was only to console Praveen. Her remark was internationally interpreted as offensive religious chauvinism, blaming catholic policy on abortion as the cause of death.

Catholic church was unnecessarily blamed for Savita's death because of the comment made by Praveen to the media that his wife died because he was told that she couldn't get an abortion, since 'Ireland is a catholic country'. This became the typical headline of media all over the world, some even titled "Ireland's law and Catholic culture allowed Savita Halappanavar to die".

Ireland ,where abortion is not legalized, has the lowest maternal death rate (6 per 100,000) compared to countries like US (21 per 100,000) & UK (12 per 100,000) where abortion is legalized.

Since a Supreme Court ruling in 1992, known as the X case, abortion has been constitutionally available in the Republic where a woman's life, as distinct from her health, is at risk from the continued pregnancy.

Dr. Berry Kiely, of the Pro Life Campaign, said that it was "little short of shameless" that Savita Halappanavar's death had been exploited to agitate for a change in Ireland's abortion laws. "It is now clear from the facts presented at the inquest, that a number of what the inquest terms 'systems failures' and communications shortcomings significantly delayed the moment at which the medical team recognized the seriousness of her condition and carried out the appropriate medical intervention."

The coroner's official inquest,a fter detailed investigations, declared that Savita's death was caused by septic shock, severe E.coli ( a highly toxic bacteria)infection in her blood and a miscarriage at 17 months.

The inquest heard of communication failures between medical and nursing staff. Evidence was also given of blood test results not being followed up and of pulse rates not taken.

The jury unanimously agreed that the cause of death was septic shock from a highly toxic strain of E. coli bacteria, but it also accepted the coroner's nine recommendations for improving hospital care. The first of these was that the Irish Medical Council should draft new guidelines on when doctors can intervene to save the life of a mother. Other recommendations include improving communication between medical staff during shift change and proper sepsis management training for the hospital staff.

The Coroner passed his sympathies to the widower of Mrs Halappanavar, Praveen Halappanavar and said that Mr Halappanavar had shown tremendous loyalty and love to his wife during her final days.

As this case is over the coalition government of Ireland is expected to announce new proposals with more clarity in the coming weeks that may eventually become the law if passed by the Irish Parliament.

For more breaking health updates visit---- jpmnews.com

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