Savita medics to be interviewed in coming days

Medics involved in the care of a pregnant Indian woman who died after suffering a miscarriage will be interviewed over the next three days, health chiefs have revealed.

A seven-strong team, headed by professor of obstetrics and gynaecology Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, will examine case notes and medical guidelines to establish whether she received the best possible care.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, died on Oct 28 after contracting septicaemia. Her husband has claimed she was denied an abortion as she miscarried 17 weeks into her pregnancy.

The HSE said no overall timeframe has been set for the completion of a report, which will be sent to HSE national director of quality and patient safety Philip Crowley.

“We will obviously interview all the members of the local team who were involved in the care and clearly analyse every step of Ms Halappanavar’s care to ensure that we uncover the root causes of her untimely death,” said Dr Crowley.

“They will be attempting to interview as many people as possible in the next three days.”

The review panel is also communicating with the dead woman’s husband, Praveen Halappanavar, through his solicitor.

He has welcomed the early stages of the review.

Details of the review were revealed as the Government prepares to face down opposition efforts to steamroll it into introducing legislation to legalise abortion in limited circumstances on medical grounds, as set out in the 1992 X case.

Dr James Reilly, the health minister, has said the Cabinet will discuss plans to reform abortion law next week.

The HSE would not reveal the full terms of reference for the investigation because it had committed to sharing them with Mr Halappanavar.

UK-based consultant Prof Arulkumaran insisted he would have plenty of opportunity to work with the team directly, despite being based in London.

“The first three days will give us sufficient information for the panel to communicate electronically. And I will be prepared to come and meet with the panel.”

Dr Crowley said while Mr Arulkumaran’s team hopes to conduct the bulk of its interviews this week, much work must still be done after that.

“There will be work to examine local guidelines, local policies, internationalguidelines, international policies and to ensure whether the best practices have been followed or not in this case,” he said.

The HSE will share the findings of its investigation immediately with the Halappanavar family.