Another day, another story about a British person dying after seeking cut-price cosmetic surgery in Turkey. This time, it involves a young woman who passed away following complications from weight loss surgery.
Dr Serkan Bayil performed a gastric band surgery on Morgan Ribeiro, 20, after she paid £2,500 to fly to Turkey for a budget procedure to avoid NHS waiting lists. But days after the surgery was completed, Morgan fell ill on her return flight to the UK and the plane diverted to Serbia so she could be rushed to hospital.
Doctors told Morgan’s family her small intestine had been cut which led to her suffering a heart attack, but Dr Bayil denies this and claims she suffered an in-flight embolism instead. Which begs the questions a) how the hell would he know and b) why would the doctors in Serbia lie about her small intestine being cut?
Dr Bayil, who has been practicing for over 20 years, says he regularly performs the gastric procedure and has never encountered any problems.
He told the Mirror: ‘She died due to an embolism on the flight, not due to complications from the surgery. I am sad, so, so sad, she was so young I wish that this had never happened, it is the first time in my career. Her vital signs were good when she left us. The most fearful thing in these operations is leakage and she had zero leakage and because of this I think she had an embolism.’
Naturally, the surgeon’s claims have infuriated Morgan’s family, who have called for a tourist ban on surgical procedures following her death.
Morgan’s mum Erin says: ‘That is preposterous. It wasn’t an embolism. It was a laceration. It had been cut, we were told during the operation. I was told that she was showing signs of fever immediately because her body was already going into septic shock. Can you imagine the pain that poor child was in? There needs to be some accountability. This isn’t just “she had an embolism”, she was cut in the small intestine, and I believe he didn’t pick it up. We were told this by the Serbian surgeons. This cosmetic tourism must stop.’
A profile of Dr Bayil online linked to Global Medical Care, a Swiss medical travel company, claims he has carried out more than 8,000 medical procedures. He graduated from Çukurova University Faculty of Medicine in Turkey in 1996, completing a general surgery specialisation there between 2003 and 2010.
Investigations into Morgan’s death have now begun, with both Serbian prosecutors and British authorities involved.
The cost for gastric surgery in the UK is between £8,000 to £10,000, but can be got for a fraction of the price in Turkey, which also includes flights and hotel. Of course, the majority of procedures are successful, but stories like this one are still all too common. Better safe than sorry, if you ask us.
For the OnlyFans model who was left with ‘dying nipples’ after her £2,800 boob job in Turkey went wrong, click HERE.
