Open verdict after woman dies following gastric band operation

AN open verdict was recorded yesterday by a coroner into the death of a 61-year-old woman who developed septicaemia after having a gastric band operation in Britain.

Louth County Coroner Ronan Maguire was told by the surgeon who carried out the key-hole procedure that it carries a 1 in 2,000 risk of death.

Catherine ‘Violet’ Donaghy, a retired nurse, had travelled to Britain to have the surgery with her daughter Orla O’Brien, who is also a nurse and who also had a gastric band inserted on the same day — March 10 this year.