Savita’s husband Praveen says HSE report does not explain why she died
left pic: PRAVEEN HALAPANNAR SITS WITH HIS WIFE SAVITA AT THEIR HOME IN GALWAY & praveen with his solicitor gerard o'donnell.
THE husband of Savita Halappanavar is not satisfied that a HSE report into her death has gotten to the bottom of why she died.
Praveen Halappanavar is said to be upset by the contents of the report into his wife’s death after a miscarriage, with his solicitor saying it contains just one reference to her request for a termination of the pregnancy.
Solicitor Gerard O’Donnell told the Irish Independent that Mr Halappanaver has refused an invitation to meet the report’s authors but said that he would go in his place with a family friend.
According to Mr O’Donnell, the issue of Ms Halappanavar requesting a termination “only arises once” in the report, adding: “My client has always said that this was requested on three occasions.”
Mr Halappanavar (34) has said that the couple repeatedly asked for a termination but were refused and has complained previously that there is no record of her requests in her medical records.
Ms Halappanavar later died from septicaemia.
Her death at the age of 31 caused a storm of controversy, reigniting the abortion debate, amid claims by her husband that doctors had said she could not have an abortion because Ireland is a Catholic country.
According to Mr O’Donnell, his client will respond to the report with a statement this week.
He said: “Clearly he just wants to know why his wife died and the report won’t specifically answer that.”
“He wants to find out why she died. He wants to find the truth”. Mr O’Donnell added.
A full coroner’s inquest into Ms Halappanavar’s death is scheduled to start next Monday April 8.
RTE pays 80 staff €10m that on top of €3m for star broadcasters
CASH STRAPPED IRISH BROADCASTER RTE FORKED OUT €10M ON SALARIES FOR ITS 80 BEST PAID STAFF MEMBERS IN A YEAR – ON TOP OF THE €3M IT PAID ITS STARS.
The Irish Independent can reveal details of the lucrative wages available to RTE staff, which are separate to six-figure fees paid to presenters like Ryan Tubridy and Pat Kenny.
For the first time, RTE has disclosed the salary scales for dozens of jobs at the station, from newsreaders to camera men, from make-up artists to orchestra musicians.
The figures reveal:
• Some 83 staff members on pay of more than €100,000.
• Eighteen were paid over €150,000.
• Three had basic salaries of more than €200,000.
• One worker described as “part-time/casual” was paid between €100,000 and €150,000.
• Average pay at the station stood at €60,300, almost twice the average industrial wage.
The pay bill for RTE shows a minimum cost of €9.5m to the 83 staff on more than €100,000 in 2011. In contrast, new figures from TG4 show it paid its entire 86-strong staff a total €4.4m last year.
The details of salaries paid to RTE staff come amid outrage surrounding RTE’s announcement of what it pays its top stars – most of whom are contract workers. RTE said it was on course to pay €3.3m to its seven highest paid contract workers this year. Those include ‘The Late Late Show’ host Ryan Tubridy, whose 2011 pay was €723,000.
He accepted a 32pc pay cut last year bring his fee to €495,000.
Pat Kenny’s fees remained stable on €630,000 for the years 2010 and 2011 and his contract is up for renewal this year.
‘Liveline’ presenter Joe Duffy is paid €300,000, down 27pc from his pay in 2008, radio host Marian Finucane is on €295,000, down 48pc, and ‘Prime Time’ presenter Miriam O’Callaghan’s latest agreed fee stands at €211,167.
Director of news Andrew Hanlon at rival station TV3 has said the stars’ pay was “outrageously high”, and Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the fees as “quite extraordinary”.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Terence Flanagan – a member of the Oireachtas communications committee – described the fees as “grossly excessive”.
RTE, funded by a combination of licence fees and commercial revenue, is expected to show a €50m deficit for 2012.
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said RTE was required “to break even at the end of this year”, adding “the advice I have is that that will be done”.
The RTE figures show 145 staff on between €80,000 and €100,000, 437 paid between €60,000 and €80,000, and 991 employees paid between 40,000 and €60,000.
There were 437 staff on less than €40,000, with more than half of these described as “part-time/casual” workers.
RTE paid almost €130m in basic salaries in 2011, employing an average of 2,150 staff during the year.
The figures for staff pay released to the Irish Independent by RTE show that all seven members of the broadcaster’s Executive Board were paid more than €150,000 in 2011.
Three of the senior executives – including director general Noel Curran – were paid more than €200,000. Mr Curran’s total pay package came to €287,000, including €58,000 in pension contributions.
RTE refused to name the other two executives whose pay exceeded €200,000 “as this is regarded as personal information”.
The 2011 board also included current managing directors of television and radio Glen Killane and Claire Duignan, RTE digital boss Muirne Laffan, and managing director of corporate development Brian Dalton. Former director of news Ed Mulhall and then-chief finance officer Conor Hayes made up the remainder of the board.
The RTE spokeswoman also refused to reveal the name or job description of the part-time/ casual worker paid as much as €150,000, again saying this was “personal information”.
Audit
She said she couldn’t get details on the part-time contract but said “part-time can constitute up to 95pc of hours” of a full-time staff member.
In a statement accompanying the release of the figures, RTE said: “To put these figures in context, please note that RTE staff have accepted pay cuts of between 8pc and 12pc (in 2009) with pay freezes and the suspension of increments for all staff on manager grade or above.”
RTE said it employed 1,858 staff at the end of December 2012, 11pc down on the same time the previous year. It said pay figures for 2012 were not yet available as they were “part of an ongoing year-end audit”.
Five things alzheimer’s caregivers should not consider doing
Let’s face it. Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s is hard work. You may have to deal with personality changes and difficult behaviors. You may be asked the same question over and over. You typically face issues with bathing, dressing and toileting. Your loved one may wander off if you aren’t careful.
Eventually, you may have to grapple with the decision to place your loved one in a long-term care facility. And the list goes on and on. But the most painful thing you will ever face as an Alzheimer’s caregiver is that you slowly lose the person you love.
If you read books, attend presentations and talk to experts about Alzheimer’s caregiving, you’ll get a seemingly unending string of advice. Some suggestions will be good; others won’t be very sound. What I want to achieve in this article is to offer some ideas about five things Alzheimer’s caregivers should never do.
DON’T BE IN DENIAL
When a loved one shows signs of dementia it’s painful to acknowledge it. It’s common for their friends and loved ones to be in denial. It’s easy to ignore the symptoms, make excuses for the person, push the symptoms to the back of your mind and find other ways to avoid thinking even for a minute that the person may have dementia. I wrote more about this in an article entitled”Alzheimer’s and the Devil Called Denial.”
The problem with denial is it doesn’t lead you to take your loved one to a primary care physician or neurologist for a complete workup. And the problem with that is that sometimes dementia is caused by health issues other than Alzheimer’s. As I stated in another article, “What If It’s Not Alzheimer’s?” some of those problems can be treated or even reversed. And if it is Alzheimer’s the earlier treatment is started, the better.
Don’t Ask “Do You Remember?”
Asking a person with Alzheimer’s if they remember something is a common mistake that’s easy to make. It’s almost as though we think we can jog their memory. But we rarely do. They have probably forgotten the event in question. That’s what people with Alzheimer’s do. They forget. So it’s better to say, “I remember when…” and then tell them a story.
Don’t Argue With or Contradict the Person
If you’re caring for someone with dementia, it’s so easy to contradict or argue with them when they say things that are total nonsense. And they typically say a lot of things that fall into this category. For instance, they may think they are a child again or they may tell you stories that couldn’t possibly be true.
But the fact of the matter is that you can never win an argument with people who have dementia. They will stick to their guns to the bitter end! It’s much better to agree with them and then change the subject. This can prevent a nasty argument that would spoil your time with your loved one. For more detailed advice on this issue see my article, “The Contentious Alzheimer’s Patient – You Can Be Right or You Can Have Peace.”
Don’t Delay Nursing Home Placement When It’s Clearly Needed
At some point in the disease process it may (but not always) become evident that you can no longer care for the person at home. Later in the development of the disease, it takes a village to care for Alzheimer’s patients. They’ll likely need a nursing staff and aids 24 hours a day and a physician on call at all times. They also need a dietician, a cook, a housekeeper, an activity director and many more professionals. Another important thing they need is to have people around them to provide social stimulation.
As I stated in another article, “Nursing Home Placement for Alzheimer’s Patients — It Can Be the Most Loving Choice,” sometimes placing the person in a reputable institution is indeed the most loving choice for the patient — not to mention for you. When you no longer have to care for the person 24 hours a day you can relax, get some much-needed rest and really enjoy spending time with your loved one, all the while being assured he or she is getting the best care possible.
Don’t Stop Visiting When Your Loved One No Longer Recognize You
Many people think that there’s no reason to visit a loved one who no longer recognizes them, but I am firmly convinced that you should visit anyway. First of all, the person may enjoy being visited even if he or she doesn’t quite know who is visiting them. More importantly, it’s possible that the person does recognize you but simply isn’t able to say so.
We never know whom Alzheimer’s patients do and do not recognize somewhere deep down. Although there’s no way to know for sure, my conviction is that the person is really “in there” somewhere and we should always assume the person may know and feel more than he or she can express.
Do any of you have suggestions of other things an Alzheimer’s caregiver should never do.
Irish car sales down 14% over first three months of this year
THE SIMI NOW EXPECTS 70,000 NEW CARS TO BE SOLD OVER THE YEAR AS A WHOLE – SLIGHTLY DOWN ON ITS ORIGINAL
With car registrations now split into two six-month periods during the year, the motor trade industry will be hoping that some of the decline will be offset by increased activity in July.
Diabetes now a ‘health disaster’ warning
FEWER THAN 20 PER CENT OF PEOPLE WITH DIABETES MANAGE THE CONDITION PROPERLY, IT HAS BEEN CLAIMED
Fewer than one in five people with diabetes in England and Wales have the potentially life-threatening condition under control, a charity has warned.
Diabetes UK said the number of those failing to manage the condition properly could lead to a “public health disaster” unless the Government steps in to support people. Without proper control, diabetes can lead to serious complications including kidney failure and stroke.
The charity’s analysis of National Diabetes Audit figures showed that 19.9% of people with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes in England meet health targets for blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, with the number even lower in Wales at 18.5%. Out of those in England with Type 1 diabetes, which requires the daily administration of insulin, only 11.4% are meeting the recommended levels.
“When you consider that there are now three million people diagnosed with diabetes and this number is rising quickly, the fact that so many of them do not have good control over their diabetes means that unless something changes we face a public health disaster. Whether these people have high blood glucose levels, blood pressure or cholesterol, they are at increased risk of diabetes-related complications such as heart disease, amputation’s like man below left and stroke.“
Baroness Young accused the healthcare system of being “all too often not good enough”, and said that people with diabetes needed self-management support programmes, along with ongoing medical support and education if they were to avoid complications and reduce the risk of early death.
Diabetes UK is calling on the Government to increase the number of people with diabetes getting the nine annual health checks recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, and to hold poor-performing areas of England and Wales to account.
“It is time to break the cycle of poor diabetes management and poor health outcomes,” said Baroness Young. “By investing in the healthcare and ongoing structured education to enable people with diabetes to manage their condition, we can ensure they have the best possible chance of a long and healthy life.
“But this will not happen by itself. We need local services to take this seriously and to put in place the care that all people with diabetes deserve and we need the Government to finally make diabetes a priority and insist that everyone with the condition gets good quality healthcare.”
Some 24,000 people with diabetes die early every year in England and Wales, according to Diabetes UK. The NHS spends about £10 billion a year on diabetes, some 10% of its entire budget, the charity added, with 80% of that going on treating complications that could have been prevented in many cases.
Funky sea lions shows human-like ability to move to a beat
It had previously been thought that only humans and animals that had an inborn vocal mimicry ability, such as parrots, were capable of being able to identify a song’s rhythm and responding to it.
But Peter Cook, a graduate student at the University of California,and his fellow researchers have managed to show that beat keeping does not necessarily go hand in hand with complex vocal learning by teaching sea lion bob its head to a range of songs.
Despite the sea lion’s never having heard Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind and Fire, the animal managed to synchronise its body movements to the five different tempos of the song.
Ronan, who is the first non-human mammal to exhibit this ability, also showed a liking for Everybody by the Backstreet Boys.
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