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Dublin: 10 °C Wednesday 22 May, 2013

Savita’s husband and family ‘very upset’ after leaked report

The lawyer for Praveen Halappanavar said the leaked report had appeared to confirm what his client had said from the outset.

Praveen Halappanavar at the preliminary inquest into the death of his wife last month.
Praveen Halappanavar at the preliminary inquest into the death of his wife last month.
Image: Brian Farrell/Photocall Ireland

THE HUSBAND AND family of Savita Halappanavar have been left ‘very upset’ by yesterday’s leak of the draft HSE report into her death.

Speaking to RTÉ Drivetime, the lawyer for Praveen Halappanavar said that both he and his client had been assured on two separate occasions by the Minister for Health James Reilly that the report would be sent to them before it was made public.

Gerard O’Donnell said that he was disappointed that the report was now in the public domain without Savita’s family having gotten to read it.

Despite the ‘hearsay’ and ‘conjecture’ that surrounded the leak, O’Donnell said that it appeared to confirm what Praveen had said from the outset as to how his wife had been treated.

The draft report is believed to have said that staff should have considered offering Savita an abortion in the days before her death as her unborn child had no chance of survival.

The draft is also reported to have said that a blood infection went undiagnosed in the days before her death at Galway University Hospital.

When asked about the level of cooperation that Praveen was giving to the enquiries into the death of his wife, O’Donnell said that he was continuing to give “total cooperation” to the coroner’s inquest “to establish the truth as to what happened”.

While this is set to reconvene on 8 April, O’Donnell said that the release of documentation to allow this to happen was not happening as “expeditiously as he would like”.

The lawyer also said that the HSE had last week asked whether Praveen would consider meeting with the chairman, but that he had wanted to see the report first. It was his hope to correct any inaccuracies first, at which point a face-to-face meeting may take place.

The final version of the HSE report is expected to be completed by next week.

Read: HSE ‘disappointed’ with leak of draft Savita investigation report >

More: Leaked Savita death report backs government’s decision to legislate – Rabbitte >

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Comments (13 Comments)

  • It disgusting that this report was leaked before Savitas family got to see it. It’s not acceptable that she continues to be disrespected like this. Her family deserve better i mean how difficult can it be to make sure that her husband was sent the report first. Hasn’t that man been through enough.

    Reply
  • Problem after problem for Praveen, I hope no more leeks happen and he gets the respect he is owed.

    Reply
  • Seems to be a culture of leaking information from government departments , it has to stop

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    • Barry 14/02/13 #

      You know your right,
      After all if information hadn’t leaked we wouldn’t have known that Gardai had been given special treatment to some people.

      Seems leaking suits people when they want it to and doesn’t when they don’t want it to.

      Reply
    • Leaking information of corruption is different to leaking info to the newspapers for profit or favours
      Whistle blowers are to be admired , this type of leaking is in the interest of no- one

      Reply
  • The person who leaked the report and the newspaper that published it should blatant disregard for this man and his family. Not to mention the possible repercussions it may have on any future legal action. The media are not without blame here, they have responsibilities too. It’s not simply good enough to say public interest story. The public interest is not served by circumventing due process and statutory enquiries.

    Reply
  • Well they did not want his solicitor to know anything in the report. Until they had reviewed it ie censored/edited

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  • Sorry but am I the only person getting bored of Praveen and his continuous whingeing?

    Reply
    • Wow, Tom. Just… wow.

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    • Sorry now hold on people. I not denying what happened to this man and his wife was a tragedy. But I just sense that no matter what is done to try to establish what happened its never going to be good enough. His wife’s tragic death is not unique in ireland unfortunately but I dont recall such media and public hype surrounding those incidents.

      Reply
    • phil 14/02/13 #

      I think his demands are quite reasonable. If his wife died due to lack ot clarity with regards abortion law and guidelines set by the HSE why then should he trust them to carry out an enquiry. By this report getting out into the piblic domain, it again shows the HSE cannot be trusted.

      Reply
    • “continuous whingeing”? That’s not a reflection of “media and public hype” – that’s a direct personal hit on an understandably devastated man. If you don’t want to be misinterpreted, Tom, you should think about how you word your comments. Poor taste.

      Reply
    • Shameful Tom. Just Shameful….

      Reply

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