A 26-year-old woman died after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift procedure in Turkey without giving informed consent, a coroner has ruled. Demi Agoglia travelled to Istanbul for the operation after seeing celebrity endorsements for Comfort Zone Surgery on social media.
Her partner, Bradley Jones, told Bolton coroner’s court that he had not wanted her to have the surgery, but she had booked the trip months earlier. After the operation, Agoglia was 'shaking' and 'very, very cold', and later complained of a tight chest.
Staff from Comfort Zone attended the villa where she was staying, but they were not qualified nurses. They checked her blood pressure but did not inspect the operation area or check her heart rate. When she collapsed, staff attempted to feed her pieces of cucumber. She was taken to hospital in Istanbul, where she died on 8 January, three days after the operation.
Coroner John Pollard ruled the medical cause of death was a microscopic fat embolism. He said there was 'no proper informed consent', 'no proper pre-operative care and advice', and 'no proper post-operative care'. He described the procedure as 'frankly barbaric' and said he would write to the health secretary about stopping such low standards. The coroner’s office had received no response from the Turkish hospital or surgeons involved.
