Savita’s family request medical records

Praveen Halappanavar’s legal team will today request his wife Savita’s medical records be handed over to the family, and any HSE copies deleted immediately.

The widower’s solicitor, Gerard O’Donnell, told the Irish Examiner that Mr Halappanavar had agreed to the move to prevent a HSE inquiry into his wife’s death on Oct 28 at University Hospital Galway following a miscarriage. Mr O’Donnell said if they were successful in securing the medical documents, it would render the HSE’s inquiry “completely defunct”.

The solicitor said it was his understanding, based on previous cases, that the HSE must comply with this request to hand over the files and delete any copies from the system. If it does not, he said he will file a complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner and, if necessary, a High Court injunction to “restrain” any further access of the inquiry to the files.