Patience is a Virtue...

I'm a bit worried about the way things are developing regarding the Savita Hallapanavar story. Initially I was troubled by how pro-choicers seemed to be spinning a story markedly devoid of firm facts  in such a way that Savita Hallapanavar had been crowned in death as a martyr to political cowardice and Ireland's refusal to legislate for abortion; it's been the usual sheep who bleat about 'evidence-based reasoning' who've seemed most keen to shun evidence and reasoning in their eagerness to make spurious links on this one, dogmatically asserting that Savita died because of Catholicism and Ireland's abortion laws.

Now, though, I'm seriously bothered that pro-lifers might be so desperate to believe that her death had nothing to do with abortion that they leap on anything that supports their views. 

Yesterday, for instance, there was a letter in the Examiner which argued that Savita's death might have been due to an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria. 

This letter, from a Doctor J Clair, takes issue with how he believes the honour of the Irish medical profession has been impugned over the circumstances of Savita's death, which he thinks almost certainly had nothing to do with abortion:

"It appears to me that the problem was an unforeseen ESBL infection rather than an issue of obstetric mishandling.  

In my experience of over 30 years with clinical antibiotic use, ESBL antibiotic resistance is by far the most worrying development that I have experienced.  

The insult to the Irish medical service is added to by the suggestion that the Indian Embassy is upset with the lack of abortion services in Ireland. 

This insult is further compounded by the fact the Indian subcontinent has played a major role in the spread of ESBL positive organisms."

Now, I'm not going to say that this is implausible, and we have heard of similarly antibiotic-resistant viruses making their way here from India and thereabouts, but I don't see that there's any way Dr Clair could credibly identify this as the cause of Savita's deaths without having seen her charts, such that this, surely, is conjecture. If, on the other hand, he's saying this because he's seen her charts, then wouldn't this constitute some kind of breach of confidentiality?

Unfortunately, others are running with this. One Ruari McCallion has a guest piece on Mark Lambert's blog today in which he elaborates on what Dr Clair says. 

"Mrs Halappanavar died of an antibiotic-resistant infection, specifically e.coli ESBL. She did not die from an abortion, from being denied an abortion, from Catholic teaching or from a confused legal system in Ireland.  

[...] 

Getting information has been like pulling teeth. I cannot mention names or attribute their comments even to ‘a doctor/nurse/paramedic at x/y/z hospital/surgery/healthcare trust’. I can’t even mention the area they live and practice; they are frightened of being traced and found out. That could have been put down to the fear that they were passing on hearsay and gossip – but the same story has come from multiple sources. It passes the usual tests of corroboration."

Mark's a decent, intelligent, and level-headed bloke who will have posted this in absolute sincerity and with the best will in the world, and though I don't know Ruari at all, I have no reason to doubt his integrity, but no matter he believes or why, I think it's deeply imprudent to push this line. Indeed, I think it's imprudent even to embrace this thesis.

We know precious little about what happened in Galway: we know that Savita had a miscarriage and died of an infection some days later; we know that she was started on antibiotics at some point, though we don't know when as her husband Praveen has contradicted himself on this point and the hospital has given a third possible date for this; we know that Praveen's timeline of events seems to be utterly irreconcilable with one purporting to come from the hospital.

That's about all that we can say for certain. We can't make assertions about what happened. We can really only point to the discrepancies and ask questions. Just as pro-choicers shouldn't be jumping to the conclusion that Savita died because she was denied a termination of pregnancy or because of any supposed uncertainty in Irish law, neither should pro-lifers be asserting that she definitely didn't die for those reasons, and grabbing at the claim that she died because of some subcontinental superbug.

It may yet turn out that pro-lifers indeed have blood on their hands on this issue, but we just don't know.  

We have to wait until the investigations do their work, and yes, I know it looks as though the HSE one looks fatally hamstrung because Praveen refuses to cooperate with the investigation -- not allowing it access to Savita's medical records -- because he says it won't be independent and because he says "the HSE are the ones who messed up Savita's care", but still, we have to wait.

Any assertions on this issue must be either sheer conjecture or based on information most definitely absent from the public domain. We can ask questions -- and let's face it, we ought to, as our journalists aren't exactly doing their job on that front -- but given how little we know, there aren't that many questions that legitimately fall within the remit of the general public. Certainly, we shouldn't assert anything. Things are mysterious enough, and no matter how good our intentions might be, it is, I think, deeply irresponsible to add anything to the current confusion.

We need facts, not wishful thinking, and information, not conspiracy theories. 

We have to wait.