A 26-year-old woman died after she was subjected to a “frankly barbaric” Brazilian butt lift procedure without giving informed consent, a coroner has ruled.
Demi Agoglia travelled to Turkey for the operation after seeing celebrity endorsements for Istanbul-based Comfort Zone Surgery on social media.
The mother of three was said to be “conscious about the way she looked” and was insistent on undergoing the procedure, which sees fat taken from elsewhere on the body and injected into the hips and buttocks.
Her partner, Bradley Jones, said he had not wanted Agoglia to have the surgery but she had booked the trip months earlier after seeing “some celebrity” endorse it online.
Immediately after the operation she was “shaking” and appeared “very, very cold”, he told Bolton coroner’s court.
Staff from Comfort Zone were called to the villa where she was staying after Agoglia complained of a tight chest, and they checked her blood pressure, but did not inspect the area of the operation or check her heart rate and pulse, the inquest heard.
Agoglia then collapsed at the villa and was taken back to a hospital in Istanbul where she died on 8 January, three days after the operation.
It later emerged that the Comfort Zone staff who were called out to the villa were not qualified nurses. The inquest heard that their “completely bizarre” actions included trying to feed pieces of cucumber to Agoglia after she collapsed.
Dr Omar Tillo, a Harley Street consultant plastic surgeon, told the inquest: “The lack of proper care and response, particularly the failure to address post-operative complications, are likely to have played a significant role in Demi’s tragic outcome.”
The Bolton coroner, John Pollard, ruled that the medical cause of death was a microscopic fat embolism in which tissue leaks into the bloodstream. Concluding that Agoglia had died as a result of misadventure contributed to by neglect, he said: “I find there was no proper informed consent in this matter, there was no proper pre-operative care and advice, and no proper post-operative care.
“All of this meant the care in total fell well below the standard expected of this type of treatment and the lack of care contributed significantly to Demi’s death.”
Pollard said he would write to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, adding: “I do feel something further needs to be done to stop this frankly barbaric medical practice being conducted to such low standards that would certainly not be tolerated in the UK.”
The inquest heard that the coroner’s office had sent multiple emails to the Turkish hospital and the surgeons involved to obtain statements, but had received no response.
