A two-part special, 7.00pm, RTÉ One, Tuesday December 3rd and 10th.
In October 2012, Savita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant with her first baby, was admitted to University Hospital Galway with an impending miscarriage. She asked for a termination, but a week later Savita had died from septic shock. 12 years after her death, this special two-part Scannal, to air December 3rd and 10th on RTÉ One at 7pm, examines why Savita died, and how the news of her death provoked a national debate. Some claim she died due to failures in her medical treatment, while others believe the controversial 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution prevented the doctors from giving her a life-saving abortion in time. What is undisputed is that Savita’s death changed this country forever and helped usher in legal abortion in Ireland for the first time.
SCANNAL: SAVITA Episode 1 December 3rd, RTÉ One at 7pm.
Why did 17 weeks pregnant Savita Halappanavar die in a Galway hospital?
In October 2012, 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar was admitted to University Hospital Galway with a suspected miscarriage. A week later, she had developed septic shock, and medical staff were fighting to save her life. Savita had come to Ireland from India in 2008, to live with her husband Praveen Halappanavar – an engineer working for Boston Scientific in Galway. By 2012, they were delighted to be expecting their first child, but 17 weeks into the pregnancy, doctors in University Hospital Galway told Savita she was losing the baby. Once Savita’s waters broke, there was a real risk that she would develop sepsis, but because there was still a foetal heartbeat, the doctors could not terminate the pregnancy. At the time, it was a criminal offence to perform an abortion, unless there was a real and substantial risk to the mother’s life.
Savita spent a week in University Hospital Galway progressively deteriorating. It would later transpire there had been multiple failures and inadequacies in her care. When the consultant made the decision to terminate the pregnancy, Savita was going into septic shock and fighting for her life.
In the first episode of a two-part Scannal special, RTÉ reporter Caoimhe Ní Laighin pieces together Savita’s final days and ask to what extent the medical team charged with her care were hampered by Irish law.
