Kitty Holland, the Irish Times journalist who broke the story of Savita Halappanavar’s death, has admitted that the facts of the case were unclear and that there may have been “no request for a termination”.
Mrs Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist from India, tragically died in Ireland’s Galway Hospital after suffering from blood poisoning caused by a miscarriage.
It was reported that doctors had denied repeated requests for an abortion, stating that a termination could not be carried out because Ireland was “a Catholic county”.
A statutory inquiry into Mrs Halappanavar’s death will now be carried out and published by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).
Muddled
But whilst being interviewed on Newstalk Radio’s Coleman at Large last week, Ms Holland admitted that Mrs Halappanavar’s husband – Praveen – may have “muddled” the facts and that a request for an abortion may never have been made.
She said: “All one can surmise is that his recollection of events—the actual timeline and days—may be a little muddled… we only have Praveen and his solicitor’s take on what was in or not in the notes—we’re relying all the time on their take on what happened…
“Oh, I’m not satisfied of anything… I can’t tell for certain—who knows what will come out in that inquiry? They may come back and say she came in with a disease she caught from something outside the hospital before she even arrived in, and there was no request for termination…”
Outrage
The reporting of the case caused a huge public outcry, with the pro-abortion lobby using the incident to demand that Ireland’s abortion laws be reviewed.
Mr Halappanavar has refused to co-operate with the HIQA’s investigation and will now take his call for a public inquiry to be held into his wife’s death to the European Court on Human Rights.
Related Stories:
Sources: