A Limerick woman has died as a result of complications which occurred while she was undergoing a back operation at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan.
Caitríona Kennelly (31) was undergoing what was described as a routine operation on a disc in her back when she began to bleed profusely.
Doctors at Navan hospital are understood to have sent for help to Dublin's Beaumont Hospital. Sources said a vascular surgeon from Beaumont was given a Garda escort and rushed to the hospital. However, the woman's life could not be saved.
Ms Kennelly had been teaching at Whitecross National School in Julianstown, Co Meath. The Health Service Executive (HSE) Northeast Area confirmed that a woman died on Tuesday due to complications that occurred during surgery.
The HSE said it would not comment further pending a postmortem examination and extended its sympathies to her family.