Mum's warning after son dies during cheap weight loss surgery in Turkey
07.09.2022 - 17:29
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A heartbroken mum warned others against dangerous weight loss surgery after her 25-year-old son died following an operation in Turkey. Joe Thornley, from Derbyshire, had flown out to Istanbul to undergo a gastric sleeve procedure.
The surgery involves a large part of the stomach being removed, with some Turkish hospitals offering gastric sleeves and bypasses for £3k. As NHS waiting lists for weight loss surgeries continue to grow, many UK residents are instead opting to pay for the procedure abroad.
After Joe was taken in for his surgery, doctors informed his devastated mum Julia that he had suffered a cardiac arrest and was unable to be saved. However, a post-mortem examination later revealed Joe's death was actually caused by internal bleeding at the site of the operation, the Liverpool Echo reports.
Julie, 58, said that, when Joe booked the operation online, she had not been concerned because it "looked like a nice hospital". But she is now warning others to be careful when considering cheap surgeries.
She said: "It looked like a nice hospital and it had good reviews. I didn’t think anything would go wrong. A few days later the so-called surgeon rang me and said he had a cardiac arrest and he couldn’t save him. I believed him.
"But when we had his body back the post-mortem found he had bled at the site of the operation. He died of internal bleeding. It was the aftercare, or they didn’t realise he was bleeding."
Joe had hoped the surgery would help him to slim down from 19 stone, but his devastated mum has now told people that "it's not worth it". She is urging others to "be very, very careful where you go. Or don't go at all."
UK surgeons are warning people they are risking dodgy operations and poor aftercare by