Turkish weight loss surgeon who operated on Brit woman who later died says ‘I did nothing wrong’ and insists she had a blood clot on the plane home – despite medics who battled to save her reporting her intestines had been cut
The surgeon who performed a £2,500 weight loss operation on a young woman who later died has insisted he did nothing wrong.
Dr. Serkan Bayil performed gastric band surgery on Morgan Ribeiro, 20, on January 5, after she paid for the cheap procedure and flew to Turkey to avoid a years-long wait for the same operation on the NHS.
However, she became ill during her flight home and was taken to hospital in Serbia, where doctors told her family that her small intestine had been perforated; she suffered a heart attack and was put into a coma, where she died four days later.
Dr. Bayil has insisted she suffered an embolism during her flight, a claim denied by Ms Ribeiro’s mother, Erin Gibson.
The surgeon, who has reportedly been practicing for more than 20 years, claimed he had successfully performed the procedure on two other patients from England and that they had recovered well.
Dr. Serkan Bayil is said to have completed more than 8,000 surgical procedures, according to an online profile promoting private surgery
Images shared on other websites show him posing in a white coat. He has denied making any mistakes in Morgan Ribeiro’s surgery
Morgan Ribeiro flew to Turkey to undergo stomach surgery after years of being bullied about her weight. Her boyfriend James Brewster (right, with Ms Ribeiro) claims hospital staff did not discuss the dangers associated with going under the knife. The hospital has not responded to the claims
The hospital where Dr. Serkan Bayil is said to have performed the operation on Morgan Ribeiro earlier this month
“She died as a result of an embolism during the flight, not as a result of complications during the operation,” Dr Bayil said of Ms Ribeiro’s death. the mirror.
He added: ‘I’m sad, so sad, she was so young. I wish this had never happened, it’s the first time in my career.’
But based on what she was told by Serbian doctors, Ms Ribeiro’s grieving mother, Erin Gibson, believes the doctor failed to detect an incision in her small intestine that could have allowed food to enter her bloodstream, causing a caused septic shock.
She said, “This isn’t just ‘she had an embolism,’ she had a cut in the small intestine, and I don’t think he picked it up.” The Serbian surgeons told us that.’
A profile of Dr. Bayil linked online to Global Medical Care, a Swiss medical travel agency, claims he has performed more than 8,000 medical procedures.
Multiple online profiles show that he graduated from the medical school of Çukurova University in Turkey in 1996, where he completed a specialization in general surgery between 2003 and 2010.
He regularly posts videos on Instagram of patients who are proud of their surgery by the surgeon; one video was captioned: “We perform all our surgeries in a completely sterile hospital environment.”
Mrs Ribeiro paid £2,500 from a trust fund set up by her parents to go under the knife after years of being bullied about her weight.
A final TikTok video posted before she flew abroad had the chilling caption: “My last post before WLS (weight loss surgery)… see you on the other side.”
Her father, Richard Ribeiro, said she researched online before deciding to pay a company in Switzerland and fly to Turkey.
But he revealed her last heartbreaking message to him was a WhatsApp voice message just before boarding a Wizz Air flight back to Gatwick, after she told him she was feeling ‘OK and that she was in the healing process began’.
He said: ‘We want to make sure something like this never happens again. That no more children are taken from their families because of these ridiculous operations, where they do not operate properly and do not follow the correct procedures.’
Earlier this week, Ms Ribeiro’s mother, Erin Gibson, told MailOnline that she had become estranged from her “quirky” daughter in the months leading up to the operation earlier this month.
She said: ‘She was interested in the bargain price. The clinic only highlights the successes, not the failures. If I had known, I would have shown her the risks.
“I only found out she had the surgery the day she left, and by then it was too late.”
Mrs Gibson says she would have shown her daughter the risks if she had known what she was about to do
Serbian surgeons removed more than 10cm of Morgan’s small intestine in an attempt to control the infection. Morgan suffered a heart attack on January 9 and died four days later
In a final post on TikTok ahead of her surgery, Morgan told her friends she would ‘see them on the other side’
Serbian prosecutors, together with British authorities, have launched an investigation into Morgan’s death after she fell ill and went into septic shock during her flight home.
The Wizz Air plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Belgrade, where surgeons removed more than 10cm of her small intestine in an attempt to save her.
Her older sister Kayleigh, 26, had begged her not to go through with the operation, while boyfriend Jamie Brewster claimed the hospital failed to make the risks associated with the operation clear before she went under the knife.
MailOnline has contacted the hospital for comment.
Ms Gibson added: ‘The Serbian doctors and authorities have been great. They told me that this is the third time that a plane carrying a British cosmetic surgery patient has had to make an emergency landing in Belgrade due to medical complications.
“The Serbian public prosecutor’s office and British authorities have launched an investigation into Morgan’s death. I hope it doesn’t happen to another girl, to another woman’s daughter.’
A government spokesperson said: ‘We are supporting the family of a British woman who died in Belgrade and are in contact with local authorities.
‘We urge anyone considering medical surgery abroad to review our travel advice and relevant guidance from the NHS and other professional bodies.’
Mr. Brewster told it the independent that she didn’t want to wait years for the operation on the NHS.
But she is one of a growing number of people dying after traveling abroad to undergo surgical procedures for far less than what they would cost in Britain; It is believed that a private British gastric band operation will cost around £10,000.
Last year the government said it was aware of more than 25 British nationals who have died in Turkey following operations since January 2019.
The advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) warns people to exercise caution when considering ‘medical tourism’ travel.
It says, “Do your own research; private companies have a financial interest in arranging your medical treatment abroad and the information they provide should not be your sole source of information.”
But Turkey has reacted angrily to claims it is carrying out unsafe medical procedures on Britons.
Last year, the Turkish Embassy in London, responding to the FCDO advisory, said: ‘Healthcare in Turkey is provided by competent institutions and surgeons in accordance with international standards.
“These facilities are regularly monitored by Turkish authorities to ensure they meet the highest standards of quality and safety.”