Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar’s husband on Thursday welcomed an apology given by a midwife for her remarks about Ireland being a “Catholic country” while denying termination to his 17-week pregnant wife.
As Praveen Halappanavar arrived for day four of the inquest into the death of 31-year-old Savita at Galway Courthouse, he was asked if he understood and forgave the comments by midwife Ann Maria Burke.
“Oh yes I do. And I would like to thank her for being so honest. I think it came out of the blue. Yes,” said the 34-year-old engineer.
“It just gives some comfort that the truth is coming out,” he added. A visibly shaken Burke, a clinical midwife manager at University Hospital Galway where Savita died last October, had told the Irish inquiry yesterday the comments had preyed on her mind since she made them five days before the death, and insisted she had never meant them in a “hurtful context”.