[Mrs. Don-o]

I don't know. Here's where I went to look it up, and found the geographic connection:

http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/

Enter the surname -Halappanavar - and then scroll down, and the only place that comes up is Manukau City, New Zealand. Yeah, I thought it sounded Finnish or Icelandic or something like that, too. But the deceased mother in question was brown-skinned, black-haired: looked like maybe Indian to me. But New Zealand seems to be the ticket.

[Tax-chick]

Fascinating. Every day is a learning experience!