British Deaths After Surgery in Turkey: What the Foreign Office, Coroners and BAAPS Actually Record

On 27 August 2018, Leah Cambridge, aged 29, was admitted to a hospital in Izmir for a Brazilian butt lift. The operation began some 90 minutes later. By about one o'clock that afternoon she had been pronounced dead. Hers is one of the UK surgery deaths in Turkey that British officials and coroners have put on record, and it is not a single bad year: the Foreign Office says it knows of seven British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures. This page sets out every figure we could trace to its original statement, what four coroner-linked records say went wrong, what the numbers cannot tell you, and which check answers which failure.

What is the official count of UK surgery deaths in Turkey?

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), usually called the Foreign Office, publishes the only continuing government count. Its current travel advice for Turkey, read on 8 November 2026, says it is aware of seven British nationals who died in Turkey in 2025 following medical procedures.

The same advice says cosmetic surgery, dental procedures and cardiac surgery are the most common procedures for medical tourists. That sentence describes what patients travel for. It does not say those procedures caused the deaths.

The advice also warns that private companies have a financial interest in booking your treatment, and it points to the Turkish Ministry of Health's list of approved providers on the HealthTürkiye website. It adds that the Foreign Office does not endorse the competence or suitability of any practitioner or facility.

Three limits come with the number. The wording is "aware of", so it is a count of cases that reached the government, not a census of every death. It covers one calendar year. And it does not tell you the procedure, the clinic, the patient's age or health, or the cause of death.

How many British people have died in Turkey after surgery since 2019, and why can't the figures be added together?

The count has been reported in cumulative form before. On 22 December 2022, the trade press reported the Foreign Office as aware of 22 British nationals who had died in Turkey since January 2019 following medical tourism visits. On 8 June 2023, a newspaper reported the same department as aware of 24 since January 2019.

Those two figures run from the same start date, so the second simply updates the first. The 2025 figure is different: it is a single year, with different wording ("following medical procedures" against "following medical tourism visits"). Adding 24 and 7 would not give a total, because the period between mid-2023 and the end of 2024 is missing, and we have not found a Foreign Office figure for it that we could open.

If you see a larger cumulative figure elsewhere, check which date it runs to and who published it. We print only figures we could trace to the statement itself.

When the 24 figure was reported in June 2023, the Turkish embassy in London answered that patient safety is a priority in the Turkish system, that healthcare institutions are regularly audited, and that annual assessments are obligatory for health institutions. The same newspaper reported, in its own words, that Turkey had received 1.3 million foreign patients in 2022. Both things can be true at once: a large volume of patients and a count of deaths that governments are tracking.

What has the Irish government said about deaths in Turkey?

Irish readers get a separate, shorter record. In December 2023, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that four Irish people had died in 2023 after bariatric or cosmetic surgery in Turkey, and reporting at the time noted that the actual number could be higher.

That is one year, one department and two types of surgery. We have not found a later Irish figure that we could open, so we do not print one. The Foreign Office's general caution about intermediaries applies to Irish patients just as it does to British ones, and the guide to your rights as an international patient covers what Irish and UK patients can and cannot claim.

What do coroners keep finding when a British patient dies after surgery in Turkey?

When a death abroad is followed by an inquest in England, the coroner can issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report, naming what should change. Four such records concern Turkey in this article. We describe them as the official records state them, and we do not know how typical they are.

Leah Cambridge, 2018 (report dated 29 November 2019). The coroner for West Yorkshire recorded a death from fat embolism after a Brazilian butt lift in Izmir. The inquest found she was asked to sign her name some three dozen times on pages in Turkish and English, without being given time to read them, and that the risks had not been adequately explained. The coroner's concern was that informed consent was not obtained, and that information on mortality and morbidity should reach a patient before any commitment is made or expense incurred. The report also notes that the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) had declared a voluntary moratorium on the operation.

Melissa Kerr, 2019 (report dated 13 September 2023). The Norfolk coroner recorded a death at 31 following cosmetic surgery to the thigh and buttock area in Istanbul on 19 November 2019, from pulmonary thromboembolism and fat embolism. The inquest found that Ms Kerr was not seen by a surgeon or clinician before the date of the procedures, had a limited assessment, was given limited information on the risks and mortality rate, and that there was limited documentary evidence of what was done. The coroner said she was concerned that patients travelling to Turkey for this operation were not being made aware of its risks, and that there are no or limited controls on such surgery abroad.

Emma Morrissey, 2022 (report dated 4 September 2023). The Cheshire coroner recorded that Ms Morrissey, aged 44, flew to Antalya for gastric sleeve surgery arranged through a UK health tourism company, was operated on 7 July 2022 and died on 8 July. The narrative conclusion was a massive uncontrolled bleed caused by an instrument perforation within the abdomen during surgery. The matters of concern included that the agency relied on the patient's own declaration of health and made no independent enquiries; that its pre-assessment questions were unclear; that there was no evidence of any investigation by the Turkish Ministry of Health, the hospital or the agency; that the surgery note the agency received did not match the UK post-mortem; and that the cause of death reported in Turkey was natural, which the coroner regarded as unnatural in the circumstances.

Anne Towlson (government reply dated 7 April 2025). The assistant coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire sent a report on 10 February 2025 to the Secretary of State for Health. The Department of Health and Social Care's reply summarises its concerns: no medical records could be obtained from the Turkish hospital or from the company that organised the trip; certain procedures were upsold in Turkey without the normal cooling-off period; there was a question over whether she was fit for surgery; and post-operative guidance and aftercare before she left the country were lacking. The reply says the government is engaging with the Turkish Government on the patient pathway, and that it notified NHS England and the Care Quality Commission.

Read together, the four records do not say that every operation in Turkey ends this way, and four records are a very small sample. Two concern a single high-risk operation that UK specialists had already paused. What they show is a repeating shape: assessment that was thin or came late, consent papers handed over on the day, a company in the middle that screened by self-declaration, and records that were hard to get once the patient was home.

What does BAAPS data record, and what does it leave out?

BAAPS, the professional body for plastic surgeons in the UK, published an audit in April 2022 of patients treated in the UK after surgery abroad. It reported 324 patients requiring surgery after returning to the UK over four years, and said the annual number rose by 44% in 2021 compared with the year before. A separate survey of its council members found that all the complications they described came from Turkey.

Those figures matter, and they have limits that the publication itself shows. The audit counts patients who came back with problems and were treated by BAAPS members. It does not count how many people had surgery abroad, so it cannot show how often surgery abroad goes wrong. The Turkey finding comes from a survey of council members, not from the audit database. And it describes complications that needed treatment, not deaths.

What can't the numbers tell you about the risk of surgery in Turkey?

They cannot give you a rate. To work one out you would need the number of British patients who travelled for each type of surgery, and the number who died or had complications, over the same period. Nobody publishes both.

Turkish press reports in April 2025 said the country treated over 1.5 million foreign patients in 2024. That is every nationality and every treatment, from dental work to eye surgery, so dividing seven British deaths by it would produce a number that looks like a rate and is wrong in both directions. We have not done that sum, and you should be wary of anyone who does.

There is no breakdown by procedure either. The Foreign Office does not say how many of its cases followed cosmetic surgery, bariatric surgery or something else, and the coroners' reports we read cover only a handful of cases. We have found no study that compares the risk for a British patient operated on in Turkey with one operated on at home, so we do not make that comparison.

The honest summary: deaths have been recorded, repeatedly, and they have been described as a government concern. How likely any one patient is to be affected is not known. People who come home well do not appear in any of these counts.

Which checks answer each coroner's concern?

The checks below are drawn from what the coroners' records show went missing. They do not guarantee an outcome: medicine carries risk even at well-run hospitals, and a check shows you what is on paper, not what will happen in theatre. Each one is a question you can put in writing before you pay a deposit.

1. Were you assessed by the surgeon who will operate, before you commit? In the Kerr record, the patient was not seen by a surgeon or clinician before the day. Ask for the operating surgeon's full name, and for a consultation with that person (a video call counts) before you pay. Ask what health information they need from you, and who checks it. In the Morrissey record, an agency relied on the patient's own declaration.

2. Do you have the consent forms, in English, days before you travel? In the Cambridge record, consent pages were signed on the morning of surgery. Ask for the forms and the risk information for your operation in advance, and ask for time to read them at home. If the forms only appear on arrival, treat that as a reason to pause.

3. Is anything added after you arrive? In the Towlson reply, procedures were upsold without a cooling-off period. Any new or bigger procedure offered on arrival is a new offer: in writing, with a day to think and the price on paper.

4. Who is the company in the middle, and who pays it? The Foreign Office warns about private companies with a financial interest in booking you. Ask whether the agent is paid by the clinic, what it screens, and whether your deposit goes to the agent or the hospital. Check the facility itself on the Ministry of Health register using the register search, and compare its name with the one on your contract and invoice. The guide on how to verify a Turkish clinic's licence explains what an entry does and does not show.

5. What will you take home? In the Towlson and Morrissey records, records were hard to obtain or did not match. Ask in writing for the operation note, the anaesthetic record, the discharge summary and your medication list, and for a named contact who will answer after you fly.

6. What is the aftercare plan, and when is it appropriate to fly home? The government's reply to the Towlson report refers to the need for appropriate aftercare, including considering when it may be safe to travel home. Ask the surgeon in writing how many days you must stay, who you call from home, and what happens if you develop a complication.

7. Has UK practice moved on the operation you are considering? In two of the records, the coroner noted a voluntary UK moratorium on the Brazilian butt lift. Ask your surgeon why they perform an operation that UK specialists have paused, and read our guides on plastic surgery in Turkey and bariatric surgery in Turkey before you decide.

Copyable checklist

1. Surgeon: full name; consultation with that surgeon before any deposit; the health information they need from me and who checks it
2. Consent: forms and risk information for my operation received in English at least days before travel; time to read at home
3. Changes on arrival: any new procedure in writing, with a day to think and the price
4. The company in the middle: who pays it; what it screens; where my deposit goes; the treating facility found on the register; legal name matches contract and invoice
5. Records: operation note, anaesthetic record, discharge summary and medication list promised in writing; a named post-flight contact
6. Aftercare: stay length, flight advice, who I call from home, what happens if I have a complication
7. The operation itself: why this surgeon performs it if UK specialists have paused it; my own UK doctor has seen the plan

How does a Clinic Investigation answer these failures?

A coroner's record shows what was missing after the fact. An investigation looks for the same gaps before you pay. It takes one named clinic and builds a dossier on four questions: who the company is, what the Ministry of Health authorisation records, which doctors are recorded against the facility, and whether the promises in your quote hold together against the documents.

It does not assess the surgery or promise an outcome, and it will tell you what it could not establish. Clinics cannot pay Clinimora for anything. The free register search is the place to start, and the Research Pass covers the rest.