Savita’s father to sue hospital

The father of Savita Halappanavar has threatened to sue the Irish hospital where she died last October after being refused abortion despite apparent risk to her life.

“Definitely, definitely, we will take legal action,” Andanappa Yalagi told The Irish Daily Star from Belgaum two days after an inquest found that the 31-year-old Indian dentist’s was due to “medical misadventure”.

A leading obstetrician told the inquest that Savita would be still alive had doctors agreed to her repeated requests for abortion.

Mr Yalagi said he was not satisfied with the inquest’s verdict because the truth had still not come out.

“No one has yet told us the real reason for my daughter’s death,’’ he said, adding: “We want the truth and we want someone held responsible”.

``I believe we will never get justice from the Irish Government so we are definitely going to take a legal action against the hospital.”

The paper said that Mr Yalagi ``confirmed’’ he had spoken to Savita’s husband Praveen, and that his son-in-law was considering taking the case before the European Court of Justice.

Alleging that his daughter’s death was caused by negligence, Mr Yalagi said: “I am not satisfied by the inquest because the truth about what led to my daughter’s death still has not come out. What I think is that the Government and the doctors need to take responsibility for what happened to Savita but so far no-one is doing that. No-one from the hospital or the Government — not the doctors, not the politicians — have spoken of the negligence that killed my daughter’’.

Mr Yalagi praised the midwife, Ann- Marie Burke, who apologised for telling Savita that she could not have an abortion “because Ireland is a Catholic country.”

Savita was 17 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to University Hospital Galway on October 21 with severe back pain. She was found to be miscarrying, but doctors refused to abort citing Ireland’s strict anti-abortion law. She died of septicaemia and E.coli sparking widespread outrage and calls for a review of abortion rules.