Praveen to seek meeting with Minister for Health

Praveen Halappanvar is seeking an urgent meeting with Minister for Health James Reilly following the publication of a HSE inquiry into his wife's death.

His solicitor Gerard O’Donnell said his client, who is out of the country until the end of next week, was pleased the process of finding out what had happened to his wife Savita, had “come this far” but added he was still seeking accountability for her death.

“Praveen is still in search of that. We will want to discuss the findings of this report with the Minister and to hear what he has to say.

"We note that the Minister has sent the report to the Medical Council and the nursing board [An Bord Altranais] and that will offer some level of accountability perhaps."

There was a number of further avenues open to Mr Halappananavar and these would be discussed with junior and senior counsel in coming weeks, Mr O'Donnell added.

"The possibility of taking a case to Europe is still there, though first we would consider a constitutional action within Ireland, where we would be seeking a declaration that Savita was deprived of her statutory right to have her life protected.

“There is also a possible negligence case, about which we have done nothing as yet. It would be unusual to have a constitutional and a negligence case running in parallel so we may pursue one and not the other or one first and the other later, or just one. These are all going to be discussed.”

A negligence case would have to be lodged within two years of Ms Halappanavar’s death, which would be October next year.

Mr O'Donnell said Mr Halappanavar was "surprised and very disappointed" that the HSE report appeared to have been published "in such a rush".

Mr Halappanavar had gone away on Monday and had no idea publication was imminent.

“We had the impression we would get copies of the report and that he would be able to give one to her parents and to read it before everyone else in the country did.

“So I had to call him on Tuesday and tell him to get in contact with her parents and his own parents and just to warn them it was about to be published.”

He said his client was “very stressed and burnt out” but was pleased the report gave further vindication, after that already achieved at the inquest in April.