The husband of tragic mum Savita Halappanavar has begun legal action against the hospital where she died after she was refused an abortion.

Praveen Halappanavar is suing Galway University Hospital and his wife’s consultant Dr Katherine Astbury.

The Irish Times reports that he has served legal proceedings against the hospital and Dr Astbury, the consultant who treated her in the week before her death.

His lawyer Gerard O’Donnell told the paper that the proceedings were served to the hospital’s solicitors in Galway on Friday.

O’Donnell revealed that the proceedings allege medical negligence and a breach of Savita Halappanavar right to life, by the hospital and the team of clinicians led by Dr Astbury.

Mum to be Halappanavar died at the Galway hospital last October.

She was 17 weeks pregnant and miscarrying when she was admitted to the hospital and requested a termination of the pregnancy after being told she was miscarrying.

The hospital refused her request as the foetal heartbeat was still present.

The report says Savita Halappanavar contacted septicaemia and went into septic shock, particularly after October 24th, after she delivered the foetus.

She suffered multi-organ failure and died at 1.09 am in intensive care, just a week after she arrived at the hospital.

The inquest into her death in returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure.

A health service investigation found there was an overemphasis on the welfare of the unviable foetus and an under emphasis on Halappanavar’s deterioration. A further investigation by the Health Information and Quality Authority is ongoing.

Lawyer O’Donnell has said that the legal proceedings relate to the care she received between October 21st and the morning and early afternoon of October 24th.

He said that Savita’s husband has no issues with the care his late wife received in the high dependency and intensive care units between October 24th and her death.

O’Donnell told the Irish Times his client was ‘pleased’ the proceedings had now been served.

The Galway based lawyer said: “He is anxious to get things moving. This is another strand in achieving accountability. That is what my client wants and it is what her family wants.”