A British mum has died after she went to Turkey to have a ‘mummy MOT surgery’, her family has said.
Mum-of-two Kaydell Brown, 38, from Sheffield paid £5,400 to a clinic in Istanbul to get a Brazilian bum lift, a tummy tuck and liposuction.
The operation, which took place at Clinic Expert on March 26 earlier this year, was supposed to take five hours.
But ten hours later, at 7.20am, her family was told she had died on the operating table.
Kaydell’s sister, Leanne, 40, who was going to have the same surgery has now spoken out, calling the clinic a ‘pop up butcher shop that needs shutting down’.
In an interview with ITV, Leanne described how she went to the clinic with her sister, who worked as a hairdresser.
She said medics told her that Kaydell had died and then, a short while later, she was handed an envelope of cash as a refund and informed that she had been booked on the next flight home.
Leanne said: ‘It’s like, “Sorry she’s dead, here’s your plane ticket”.’
The devastated sister explained that ‘loving and caring’ Kaydell had hoped the surgery would get her life ‘back on track’ after she had put on weight when she broke her ankle.
The two sisters then decided they would both have the surgery at ClinicExpert and worked hard to afford the £5,400 needed for the procedures, flights and accommodation.
To have the same procedures at home in the UK, it would have cost £15,000.
When the pair arrived in Turkey, Leanne described how Kaydell was in good spirits.
She said: ‘She was really happy. She was excited. We were smiling, having a laugh and she just wanted to get there and get it done.’
Leanne said staff explained how they had tried to wake Kaydell up after the surgery but that some fat must have travelled to her lungs.
Leanne continued: ‘She went in for surgery about 9.30am and that was the last time I saw her.
‘They told me that evening that she didn’t make it. I couldn’t believe it. I was still in a room waiting for her to come back. I had asked a few times how long she was going to be, and they kept saying, “She’s coming”.
“And then I got a knock on the door and three people walked in and said, “Can you come with us please?”. They started trying to say, “You know there are complications with surgery”, and I said, “Has my sister died?”. And he said, “I’m sorry but yes”.
The heartbroken sister claimed she was refused permission to see Kaydell’s body and that she was back in the airport to get on a flight home the very next day.
Kaydell’s body was returned to the UK three days later.
A pathologist in the UK then examined some of her body tissue, and an inquest into her death was opened in Sheffield on Friday.
Coroner Marilyn Whittle said: ‘We are still making inquiries into the death. We need more information.’
Ms Whittle adjourned the inquest until February 28 for a case management review but also told the family she hopes it can be heard earlier than that.
She added: ‘I hope we can get the answers we need for you.’
When ITV and the Mirror approached bosses at the Istanbul clinic about Kaydell’s death they said ’cause can only be identified by the coroner’s office’ but their ‘deduction’ pointed to a ‘fat emboli blocking a lung blood vessel’.
They said: ‘Complications are [the] undesirable and unexpected result of an operation… They are not malpractices. We are very sad for Kaydell’s loss, but we also have nothing we need to hide.’
‘ClinicExpert has been performing aesthetic surgeries for Turkish and international patients [for] 13 years.
‘It performed slightly over 23,000 aesthetic surgeries. Unfortunately, we lost two aesthetic surgery patients in 13 years. Two is a very big number for us, and for the loved ones of patients.
‘But two over 23,000 is 0.000087 mortality rate. This rate is far below the international averages in most developed countries and most advanced hospitals. Our medical director and medical board reviewed the case.
‘We didn’t conclude any malpractice in Kaydell’s loss.’
Metro has contacted Clinic Expert for further comment.
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