An inquest is to be held into the death of a 36-year-old woman who died at Sligo General Hospital just hours after giving birth to her fourth child.

Sally Rowlette of Dromore West in Sligo died at the hospital on February 5. A postmortem revealed that the death was due to haemorrhagic infarction with cerebral oedema brought on by HELLP syndrome - a life-threatening pregnancy complication usually associated with pre-eclampsia.

An inquest into her death will be held by Sligo coroner, Dr Desmond Moran, some time in the New Year.

Mrs Rowlette left behind her husband Sean Rowlette (38) and her children Leanne (8), Abbie (6), Joseph (3) and baby Sally Jnr. Her husband said he was ‘extremely anxious to get answers' to the many questions the family have.

This is the second such tragedy to hit Sligo General Hospital in less than three years. In September 2010, Dhara Kivlehan (29) died of multi-organ failure as a result of HELLP syndrome at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. She had been transferred there from Sligo General after becoming seriously ill following the birth of her first child.

In the High Court earlier this month, the HSE apologised unreservedly to her husband, Michael, and agreed to pay almost €800,000 damages to her young son.