HSE set to pay damages in Savita Halappanavar case

The High Court is expected to be told later today that the Health Service Executive (HSE) has agreed to pay damages to the widower of the late Savita Halappanavar

An action for damages by Ms Halappanavar’s husband, Praveen, against the HSE was listed to open at the court this afternoon.

However, it emerged last night that the HSE had agreed to pay a substantial amount in compensation.

The case was initiated following the death of the 31-year-old in 2012. She was pregnant with her first child when she presented at University College Hospital, Galway, with pains. She died a week later, on October 28, 2012, after miscarrying and suffering septic shock due to E coli.

An inquest into her death was told she repeatedly asked for a termination but, because a foetal heartbeat was detected and her life did not appear to be in danger at that time, an abortion could not be carried out under the law. Her death, five days after she was refused a termination, sparked widespread debate that forced a controversial change in Ireland’s abortion legislation.

It also sparked a number of investigations. The Health Information and Quality Authority’s probe found a failure in the provision of the most basic elements of patient care; a failure to recognise Ms Halappanavar was developing an infection, and then a failure to act on the signs of her clinical deterioration in a timely and appropriate manner. It also identified a number of missed opportunities to intervene in her care which, if acted upon, may have resulted in a different outcome.