A 20-year-old woman from the UK died after undergoing weight loss surgery in Turkey, a popular destination for medical tourism due to the relatively lower cost of services, British media outlets reported.
Morgan Maria Ribeiro from South London was the second British woman to die following surgery in Turkey in January.
Ribeiro travelled to Turkey earlier this month along with her partner, Jamie Brewster, to undergo gastric sleeve surgery because she didn’t want to be placed “on an NHS waiting list for years.”
Brewster told British media that Ribeiro had conducted extensive research before booking the operation, which he said cost her 2,500 pounds ($3,173). She went under the knife on January 5 and was given the all-clear to leave the clinic and fly home three days later.
“My last post before WLS [weight loss surgery] – see you on the other side,” Ribeiro said in her last post on TikTok days before the surgery.
She became seriously ill and went into septic shock on her way back to the UK, prompting an emergency landing in Serbia. It emerged that Ribeiro’s small intestine had been cut during the gastric sleeve procedure, leading to an infection.
During the operation, surgeons removed over 10cm of her small intestine, but Ribeiro suffered a heart attack on January 9 and was put in an induced coma – dying four days later in a hospital in Belgrade.
Ribeiro’s family says they had not known about her planned operation until just days before she was due to fly out and were concerned by the risks.
Her mother, Erin Gibson, is now fundraising £10,000 to repatriate her body and has spoken publicly about her grief.
Speaking to the Independent, the mother of five said: “Growing up she was bullied a lot, she’s always battled with her weight and been a bigger girl and she had a really rough time with it.
“I told her she was beautiful inside and out, she really was a beautiful girl.
“By the time I found out it was too late, she was already on the plane. I had that sinking feeling because I’d heard horror stories about Turkey.”
Ribeiro’s tragic death comes days after another British woman, 26-year-old mother of three Demi Agoglia died earlier this month days after a Brazilian bum-lift operation in Turkey.
Agoglia is thought to have suffered cardiac arrest after returning to the clinic in İstanbul for a check-up following the operation.
In 2019 another British woman, Melissa Kerr, 31, died at a private hospital in İstanbul where she had also buttock enlargement surgery.
The surgery is in great demand despite being one of the most dangerous cosmetic treatments in the world.
UK government officials met with Turkish counterparts last November after Kerr’s death prompted concerns that people underestimate the risks of pursuing cosmetic surgery overseas.
The British Foreign Office issued a warning to British people travelling to Turkey for medical treatment in July after learning of 25 people who have died there since January 2019.