The body of a 38-year-old British woman who died during cosmetic surgery in Turkey was reportedly returned to her home, missing parts of some vital organs.
Kaydell Brown died on the operating table at the Clinic Expert in Istanbul on March 26.
She paid 5,400 pounds to travel to Istanbul for a “mummy MOT,” which is an all-in-one operation that involves getting a Brazilian butt lift, a tummy tuck, and a boob job in one day.
Brown’s sister, Leanne, traveled with her sister to support her through the surgery.
She recounted the exact time when Kaydell walked into the clinic followed by the harrowing moments hours later when the surgeons came out of the surgery room to tell her about the complications that developed during the procedures.
“She went in for surgery at about 9.30 a.m., and that was the last time I saw her,” Leanne Brown told ITV. “They took me to a room, and they just started trying to say, you know, there’s complications with surgery, you know things can happen. And I asked, ‘Has my sister died?’ And he just said, ‘I’m sorry, but yeah.’”
Leanne said she didn’t have much time to process the deeply shocking and unexpected news as clinic staffers handed her an envelope full of money and a one-way plane ticket back home.
“They just gave me an envelope and said here’s your money back and here’s your sister’s money back. And here’s your flight. It’s like, sorry she’s dead, here’s your plane ticket,” Leanne said.
Leanne said what compounded her grief and mistrust was the clinic’s refusal to provide access to Kaydell’s body. When Kaydell’s body was finally returned to the U.K., a coroner discovered that it was missing large parts of her brain, lungs, and heart, her sister said.
“When they returned her body, they kept pieces of her heart and her intestines, and that could show the cause of death, but we might not know because they’re not very cooperative,” Leanne remarked.
The clinic rejected any allegations that it removed and kept organs before it turned Kaydell’s body over to a coroner’s office in Turkey.
“No evidence of organ trauma was found. We have handed the body untouched to the Coroner’s Office (in Turkey),” the clinic told ITV. “It is highly possible parts were removed while trying to determine the cause of death.”
The office sent a death certificate to the family, citing no cause of death, but later insisted that her death was due to surgery complications, not medical malpractice.
“An internal investigation found no malpractice, and Kaydell’s death was likely caused by fat blocking a blood vessel, which can occur during this type of surgery,” the clinic stated.
A clinic spokesperson reported that out of the more than 23,000 aesthetic surgeries its surgeons have done for Turkish and international patients in the last 13 years, only two patients have died.
More than one million people travel to Turkey for medical procedures every year, including 150,000 British citizens. According to Foreign Office records, 28 British citizens have died in Turkey from cosmetic surgery complications since 2019.
“The UK government has been actively engaging with the Turkish government on how to support the safety of patients who decide they wish to travel to Turkey for medical treatment,” a government spokesperson said. “We urge anyone considering a cosmetic procedure abroad to research the treatment in question, the qualifications of their clinician and the regulations that apply in the country they are traveling to.”
Brown said that Kaydell had just celebrated her 38th birthday and invested in the cosmetic procedures to treat herself after going through a tough time over the past several years. She was the mother of two boys, ages 12 and 16.
The family is still awaiting a cause of death for Kaydell from Turkish authorities.
