Can you please save it — if you can’t, then I can’t take this waiting for the baby to die

A friend of Savita Halappanavar confirmed she was present when controversial and disputed remarks were made by a midwife about the inability to carry out a termination at Galway University Hospital because it was a Catholic country.

Mrudula Vasepalli told the inquest that she had gone to the hospital on Monday, Oct 22, and was told by Mrs Halappanavar that because the neck of the womb was open, there would be an inevitable miscarriage.

The following morning she spoke to Praveen Halappanavar by phone and he told her nothing could be done as the foetal heartbeat was still there. She went to the hospital that morning to be with her friend while Mr Halappanavar drove his wife’s parents to Dublin Airport.

Mrs Halappanavar was upset and asking what kind of mother she was, waiting for her baby’s heartbeat to stop. When a nurse/midwife came to check the baby’s heartbeat, they both asked her if there was any possibility of saving the baby.

“Savita said... ‘can you please save it — if you can’t, then I can’t take this waiting for the baby to die’,” Ms Vasepalli said.

Later, she said Mrs Halappanavar had asked the nurse/midwife that if they couldn’t save the baby, could they try to do something to stop the heartbeat.

“We don’t do that, dear. It’s a Catholic thing,” was the reply, she claimed.

Mrs Halappanavar then said: “I understand you can’t do anything, but I can’t stay like this.”

Ms Vasepalli told the inquest the nurses were lovely, but that “it’s the system that’s wrong”.

Mrs Halappanavar was crying and told her friend: “Either way it hurts me — the heartbeat or not.”

Questioned later about the identity of the nurse/midwife of whom they asked about a possible termination, Ms Vasepalli said that she wore a navy blue uniform, was tall, and perhaps in her 50s.

Declan Buckley, for the hospital and HSE, told West Galway Coroner Dr Ciaran MacLoughlin that the hospital’s best guess was that the person was likely to have been clinical midwife manager Ann Maria Burke, and she was accompanied by student midwife, Elaine Finnucane.

While Ms Burke had made a statement, she was not a witness for the inquest and neither her statement nor that of Ms Finnucane referred to the comments as described by Ms Vasepalli.

Dr MacLoughlin ruled that Ms Burke be added to the list of witnesses.

Earlier, the inquest heard that a blood test had been carried out on Mrs Halappanavar on Sunday, Oct 21. It later emerged that the test showed a raised white cell count — an indicator of infection — but this was not realised until two days later.

In his evidence, senior house officer Dr Ikechukwu Uzockwu said he had diagnosed Mrs Halappanavar as suffering from probable chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the foetal membranes due to a bacterial infection) and discussed his findings with the registrar, Sarah Campbell.

Dr Uzockwu said that Dr Campbell told him she would come up and assess her. Asked by the coroner if Dr Campbell reviewed Mrs Halappanavar, he said no.

Midwife Miriam Dunleavy said in evidence that at 4.15am on Oct 24, Mrs Halappanavar was cold. She said she provided an extra blanket, but by 6am Mrs Halappanavar’s condition had deteriorated greatly.

“I’ve never seen a woman on our ward get so sick so quickly,” Ms Dunleavy said.