A 31-year-old Indian woman dentist died in Ireland fromblood poisoning after doctors allegedly refused to terminate her 17 week longpregnancy, telling her that "this is a Catholic country".
Irish authorities have launched a probe into the death ofSavita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant when she suffered a miscarriageand septicaemia at University Hospital Galway last month, The Irish Timesreported on Wednesday.
Her husband, Praveen Halappanavar, an engineer at BostonScientific in Galway, said she asked several times over a three-day period thatthe pregnancy be terminated.
Having been told she was miscarrying, and after one day insevere pain, Savita asked for a medical termination.
This was refused, he says, because the foetal heartbeat wasstill present and they were told, "this is a Catholic country".
The dead foetus was later removed and Savita was taken tothe high dependency unit and then the intensive care unit, where she died ofsepticaemia on October 28.
"Savita was really in agony. She was very upset, butshe accepted she was losing the baby. Savita asked if they could not save thebaby could they induce to end the pregnancy. The consultant said, 'As long asthere is a foetal heartbeat we can't do anything'," her husband was quotedas saying by the newspaper.
Despite her insistence that she was "neither Irish norCatholic", the doctors refused to abort the foetus.
An autopsy carried out two days later found she died ofsepticaemia "documented ante-mortem" and E.coli ESBL.
A hospital spokesperson confirmed the Health ServiceExecutive had begun an investigation while the hospital had also instigated aninternal investigation.
Abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland. The incidenthas reignited the debate over women's rights to abortion in the country.
Ireland Prime Minister Enda Kenny himself said he wasawaiting the findings of the probe into the death.
