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Callum Jones
A woman who died after getting a 'Brazilian butt lift' in Turkey was not given enough information to make a safe decision about the procedure, a corner has concluded.
Back in 2019, Melissa Kerr travelled to the private Medicana Haznedar hospital in Istanbul for the cosmetic procedure, which involves fat being harvested from other parts of the body and injected into the buttocks.
The 31-year-old, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died on 19 November 2019 - the same day she had the £3,200 procedure.
Melissa, who worked as a psychological wellbeing practitioner at Mind, suffered a fatal clot that had travelled to her lungs after the re-injection of the fat deep into her buttock muscle tissue.
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The inquest was told that if the material was injected too deep into muscle tissue, there was an increased risk of it traveling to other parts of the body.
Melissa was in theatre for more than three hours when efforts were made to save her life, documents from the Turkish hospital revealed. She sadly died a short while afterwards.
Melissa, who was said to have been 'conscious about her appearance', underwent a breast enlargement ten years previously without any complications.
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She also had no known health problems according to her GP.
At an inquest, Norfolk's senior coroner, Jacqueline Lake, recorded Mellisa's cause of death as a pulmonary thromboembolism.
Ms Lake now intends to write a report for the UK's health secretary Steven Barclay to outline some concerns that Brits do not have enough information when it comes to these procedures.
She said there has been a 'high number of patient deaths in similar circumstances', before adding: "I am concerned patients are not being made aware of the risks or the mortality rate associated with such surgery.
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"I do have concerns there will be future deaths and I'm of the view future deaths can be prevented by way of better information."
Recording a narrative conclusion, Ms Lake concluded that Melissa died after the cosmetic surgery.
The coroner said: "There has been the release of an international alert to surgeons regarding the high mortality rate associated with this procedure
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"There has also been the introduction of a voluntary moratorium (suspension of activity) on this type of procedure in the UK. These are clearly not being followed in Turkey.
"I don't have any authority over hospitals in Turkey and I also appreciate the UK government has no control (over) what happens in other countries.
"However the danger our citizens will continue to travel abroad for such procedures continues, though citizens are unaware of the risks involved."
Meanwhile, Melissa's devastated family issued the following prepared statement: "We hope in the future individuals give proper consideration before travelling to Turkey for cosmetic tourism."