Thursday 13 June 2013

HSE fail Savita Halappanavar - in Life & in Death


Today, the HSE published the long awaited report into the death of Savita Halappanavar who died of Sepsis following a miscarriage after being denied a termination in October of 2012.

You may read the full report here:
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/nimtreport50278.pdf

While the nation digests the report findings, there are two issues which raise immediate red flags indicating that despite all the effort which has gone into the theatrical display of expert opinions, grave expressions, and urgent comments, the HSE hasn't learned from this process one iota.

1) Recommendations following the inquest of Savita Halapanavar included the need for 'proper and effective communication'. You might recall that the same recommendations have also been put forward following the death of Tania McCabe, Bimbo Onanuga, the Miscarriage Misdiagnosis Scandal.... (are we making our point?). Despite this, Praveen Halappanavar is reported today as being 'unaware' that the HSE report was to be published today. #IRONY?

How can we trust a health body to enforce recommendations when they can't get something so basic as effective communication with Praveen right?
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/savita-s-husband-not-made-aware-report-is-being-published-1.1427122

2.) The HSE report into the death of Savita Halappanavar has the inclusion and full disclosure of all pre-admission history with her GP on confirmation of pregnancy and details from Savita's booking appointment to UCHG prior to the onset of her miscarriage. The amount of intimate personal history detail included in this report is mindboggling.

We just want to make sure we get this straight, the HSE protects their staff by not naming HCPs involved in the case within the report, but they can include the dead woman's weight, her HIV status, previous medical history,  her need for GTT, blood group, medications during pregnancy, if her pregnancy was planned or not, her height, if she planned to breastfeed, her scans, etc?

We are all for transparency but something here just doesn't feel right.

It would appear violations in repsect, dignity, and patient rights linger in life and in death.


1 comment:

  1. The death of Savita is terribly sad and unnecessary. The facts of this case are heart breaking. Irish hospitals are very quick to seek court orders in order to force women to undergo procedures. The word of a consultant obstetrician seems enough to warrant any procedure they deem necessary so why wasn't an emergency order sought to save Savita's life?

    ReplyDelete