Mother who did not want girl died after abortion

A MOTHER of three who had an abortion because she did not want another daughter died from complications after the operation, a Leeds inquest was told yesterday.

Sarbjit Lall, 29, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, who had three young daughters, had the termination at St James's Hospital in Leeds when she was 18 weeks pregnant. The operation went well, but she died three days later after suffering massive internal bleeding and a heart attack.

Dr Vasu Rane said she carried out the abortion on Mrs Lall. But she was unaware that staff at the family planning centre which referred Mrs Lall to the hospital had been given false reasons for the operation. The inquest was told that Mrs Lall had told the centre that another child would cause depression, force her to give up her job as a financial controller and create financial problems. But the real reason for the termination was that she did not want another daughter.

The centre would not have approved a termination on the grounds of the baby's sex, David Hinchliff, the coroner, was told.

'I was not aware the abortion was illegal. I believed it was a perfectly routine termination for proper medical reasons,' Dr Rane, a research fellow in gynaecology, said.

The operation went smoothly, she said, and when she and a consultant went to check on Mrs Lall in a ward later they were asked by a nurse to 'have a look at her because she appeared to be very distressed and was hyperventilating'.

They examined Mrs Lall and decided there was nothing to worry about. That was the last time Dr Rane saw Mrs Lall alive, the hearing was told.

The inquest continues today.