Gastric Sleeve Turkey Death Rate: No Published Figure Exists. Here Is What UK and Irish Inquests Found

On 6 July 2022 Emma Morrissey, 44, flew to a private hospital in Antalya for a gastric sleeve. She was operated on the next day. At 12.45 on 8 July she was dead. The coroner's conclusion was that she died of a massive, uncontrolled bleed caused by an instrument perforating the inside of her abdomen during the operation.

People who search for the gastric sleeve Turkey death rate want a number to hold against that story. There is no such number, and this page explains why. What exists instead is a record: inquests in England, Wales and Ireland, one coroner's report written to stop it happening again, and a short list of concerns that UK obesity surgeons keep repeating. Read together they show where these operations go wrong, which is often somewhere a patient could have asked about before paying.

What is the gastric sleeve Turkey death rate? The honest answer

There is no reliable rate, and anyone who gives you a percentage has either invented it or borrowed it from a different population.

A death rate is two numbers divided: deaths over operations. The first is known only in pieces. Coroners record deaths one inquest at a time, newspapers report some of them, and a few counts have been made. In March 2023, seven Britons were identified as having died after weight-loss surgery in Turkey since 2019, and a separate figure of 22 British nationals dying in Turkey after medical tourism of every kind since January 2019 was reported. Both are minimum counts that stop on a date, and inquests since have added cases.

The second number, how many people had the operation, does not exist. A 2026 review of surgery abroad, published in BMJ Open, set out to collect what is known about UK patients. Its authors found no papers on how many UK residents travel abroad for surgery, or on how many of them come back with complications, and said the data was too incomplete to understand the risks fully. The studies it did include reported no deaths. That says more about what research captures than about what happens: a death usually reaches a coroner, not a journal.

So the rate cannot be calculated, and a comparison with NHS figures would fail for the same reason: a different group of patients, assessed and followed up in a different way. What can be said, from the record, is more useful than a percentage. These operations have gone wrong in particular, repeatable ways. The sections below take them in turn.

How many Britons go abroad for weight-loss surgery?

Nobody knows exactly, but UK surgeons' estimates put it at about the same size as the NHS programme. In June 2024 the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society estimated that about 5,000 Britons travel abroad for bariatric surgery each year, against about 4,500 who have it on the NHS. These are estimates from clinicians, not counts from a register.

For context, the number of weight-loss operations in England fell from 6,818 in 2019 to 4,409 in 2022, in figures reported in 2023. Those are NHS operations; they say nothing about how many people went elsewhere.

The 2026 review also looked at the cost of coming home with a problem. Across the elective procedures it covered, including weight-loss surgery, breast enlargement and other cosmetic operations and eye surgery, the cost to the NHS of treating complications ranged from £1,058 to £19,549 per patient, in the studies that reported costs. Turkey was the most common destination in the studies it gathered. The review excluded dentistry, emergency surgery and cancer treatment, so it describes surgery abroad in general, not the sleeve alone.

What coroners found: bleeding and organ injury on the table

Two of the most fully documented cases are deaths during the operation itself.

Emma Morrissey, 44, Antalya, July 2022. The Cheshire coroner who heard the inquest did something coroners do only when they believe the same thing could happen again: she wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths report, dated 4 September 2023, to the UK firm that had arranged the surgery. It records that the surgeon perforated Emma's abdomen with an instrument, that the area was packed to stop the bleeding, and that no platelets for blood clotting were given, so the bleeding continued. The coroner's concerns went beyond the operating theatre. The Turkish record gave the cause of death as natural, a cardiogenic shock; the coroner regarded the death as unnatural. The surgery note given to the UK firm did not match the post-mortem on where the bleed was. And the coroner found no evidence that the Turkish Ministry of Health, the hospital or the UK firm had investigated a death on the operating table, even though the firm had been told the surgeon caused it.

Janet Savage, 54, Bangor, Antalya. Janet signed up with a UK health travel firm in early July and had surgery about a month later; she died in the early hours of 6 August. The post-mortem gave the cause as acute bleeding from the abdominal aorta, which had been repaired. Surgical notes described a small defect in the aorta when the operation began, heavy bleeding, a repair and the sleeve being cancelled. A statement from the firm said there had been a complication and she had stopped breathing in the first minutes of surgery. Her inquest was reported in November 2024.

Neither case shows that every sleeve carries this risk. Each shows the same practical gap: when the worst happens in a hospital abroad, the family, the coroner and the UK agent depend on records written by the team involved.

What coroners found: flown home too soon

The second pattern begins after the operation, not during it.

Hayley Butler, 40, Izmir, September 2024. The package cost about £2,500 and covered flights, transfers, a hotel, tests and medication. She told staff after the operation that everything hurt. She was given a letter saying she was fit to fly and flew home about 48 hours after surgery. Over the next days she grew weaker; her mother described constant thirst and no energy, and by the weekend of 5 October she was vomiting violently. She was admitted to a hospital in Norfolk, then transferred on 11 October to a specialist bariatric unit in Luton, where her mother was told the odds were against her. Surgeons found four perforations, including in the colon and the oesophagus. She died on 24 October from multiple organ failure due to sepsis. The Norfolk coroner said the operation had not been done properly. The bariatric doctor who gave evidence said he had operated on more than 40 similar cases in the previous five years and pointed to a lack of safety netting for patients once they leave.

Morgan Ribeiro, 20, Istanbul, January 2024. She travelled on 5 January for a sleeve costing £2,500. Her operating doctor cleared her to fly three days after the operation. She became very unwell on the flight to Gatwick, the plane made an emergency landing in Belgrade, and she died on 13 January. A post-mortem in Serbia, reviewed by a UK pathologist, described inflammation behind the abdominal cavity and a rupture of the intestinal wall. At an inquest hearing on 27 May 2026 the assistant coroner said she was not making findings of fact on whether the Serbian post-mortem was correct, that she needed to know more about the surgery, and that the surgeon had not responded to requests for information; she was not satisfied that her requests had reached him. No conclusion was recorded and the inquest was adjourned to 28 August 2026.

The detail that matters for you is the clearance. A letter saying you are fit to fly is an opinion, written by the people who operated, at a moment that suits a flight booking. Ask what examination sits behind it.

What coroners found: nobody checked whether the patient was fit for the operation

A third pattern sits before the operation.

The coroner's report on Emma Morrissey found that the UK firm relied on the patient's own declaration of health and made no independent enquiries before arranging surgery. The pre-assessment questions put to patients were unclear, with no sign of a standard form written by a medically trained person, and they did not ask about family history of conditions such as heart disease.

Leanne Leary, 28, Oldham, July 2023. This case is more complicated, and it matters that it is. She had a gastric sleeve at a hospital outside Istanbul on 1 July, suffered a heart attack on the operating table, was resuscitated and taken to intensive care, and had a second cardiac arrest the next afternoon. She died on 2 July. The post-mortem found a pulmonary embolism from a deep vein thrombosis, which the pathologist said was likely already present before she left the UK. Her BMI was 47. The coroner at Rochdale concluded that she died of recognised complications of an elective operation combined with underlying medical conditions. That is not a finding of poor surgery. It does show what a thorough pre-operative assessment is for: finding the clot, or the heart condition, before the operating table.

A 2023 BBC investigation made the same point from the other side. Six clinics it approached said they would accept a patient with a BMI of 24.5, and some clinics encouraged people to gain weight to qualify. A clinic that will operate on anyone has not assessed anyone.

Irish inquests: misadventure, sepsis and a vitamin deficiency

Ireland has its own record, and it is as specific.

Pamela Canty, 53, Cork, October 2022. Her husband had a gastric sleeve in Turkey a year earlier. In Turkey she was told she needed a gastric bypass rather than a sleeve, and had one on 17 October 2022 at a hospital in Izmir. She was discharged to a hotel. She had clear signs of sepsis, including a fever, which she raised with staff, and was told she could fly home. She was sent to the airport the next day, pale and unwell, needing a wheelchair in the airports. She collapsed at home and was admitted to a Cork hospital on 23 October. She died of septic shock with severe peritonitis: the join between her small bowel and stomach had come apart. The coroner returned a verdict of medical misadventure at an inquest held on 30 May 2024.

Two things stand out. The operation changed between booking and surgery, and signs of sepsis were raised before the flight, not after it.

Èrin Dennis, 26, Dublin. She went on a five-day trip in November 2021 for a gastric sleeve. On 23 January 2022 she was admitted to a Dublin hospital with dizziness, vision and walking problems and a vitamin B1 deficiency; she had been vomiting up to six times a day. She fell and fractured an ankle, needed surgery, and later spent almost 44 hours in an emergency department. She died of a pulmonary embolism, which came from a clot in a deep vein of her leg. The coroner returned a narrative verdict that reached back to the surgery abroad and called the case complex: high BMI, the effects of the surgery, and immobility could all have contributed. She added that the risks of travelling outside the EU for surgery need to keep being highlighted.

Irish press reports have counted at least nine people in Ireland who died after weight-loss surgery abroad between late 2020 and late 2023. No published basis for the count was given, so read it as a floor, not a statistic.

What do these cases not show?

They are not a sample. Each one is here because the patient died and an inquest followed, so people who had a sleeve in Turkey and came home well do not appear in this record. That is why it cannot give a rate.

They do not show that every death was avoidable. Leary's coroner described recognised complications; Dennis's was a complex case that also involved long waits at an Irish hospital. And no check prevents a complication with certainty: major abdominal surgery carries risk at well-run hospitals in every country, including the UK.

What the cases do show is a pattern in the gaps around the operation, which is where a patient has some control. Who assessed me? Who is operating? Who decides I can fly? Who can I reach on day three? Who holds the records if there is an inquest? The UK's specialist societies list the same gaps.

What are the seven concerns of UK obesity and plastic surgeons?

In April 2023 the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons and the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society issued a joint statement on surgical tourism. It sets out seven concerns, which we put in our own words and, where the record above shows one, match to it.

1. Not enough expert assessment and counselling before the operation. Seen in the reliance on self-declared health and the clinics that accepted a BMI of 24.5.
2. Poor choice of procedure, and too many procedures in one sitting.
3. A different operation from the one the patient expected. Seen in the Canty inquest.
4. Unknown quality and safety of the team doing the surgery. Seen in the Morrissey report, where no one investigated afterwards.
5. Long-distance travel immediately after surgery. Seen in the Butler and Ribeiro accounts.
6. Little or no routine follow-up.
7. No direct access to expert care if something goes wrong. Seen in the days Butler spent unwell at home.

Before you pay a deposit: the questions these cases raise

Seven checks, one for each concern. Each is a question to put to the clinic in writing, apart from the first, which you can start tonight. The longer list of questions is in bariatric surgery in Turkey: questions to ask before choosing a hospital.

1. Who is the facility, and who is the agent?

Find the clinic on the Ministry of Health register with the register search. "The register" is the list of facilities the Ministry has authorised for patients who travel for care. A match shows authorisation; it does not show outcomes, which doctors operate or any record of complaints. The legal name on the register should be the name on your contract. If a UK or Irish agent is involved, ask what the agent checks before sending you, and what it does if there is a death or complication. The Morrissey report shows what that can look like when the answer is "nothing".

2. Who will operate?

Ask for the surgeon's full name and registration details, then compare the name with the doctors recorded against the facility's register entry. A missing name is a question to ask, not a disqualification. See how to verify your surgeon in Turkey. Ask in writing whether this person will perform the whole operation.

3. Who assessed you, and on what?

A sleeve should follow an assessment of your own history: medicines, previous clots, family history of heart disease, weight and other conditions. Ask what the pre-operative assessment contains, who does it and whether it happens before you travel. Tell your own GP about the plan; a doctor who knows you may raise something a form does not.

4. Which operation, and what could change it?

Ask for the named operation in writing, the reasons it could change on arrival or on the table, and who would explain a change to you before you are sedated. In the Canty account the operation changed; in the Savage account the sleeve was cancelled once the bleed began.

5. Who decides you can fly, and when?

Ask for the minimum stay in writing, the examination and tests behind a fit-to-fly letter, and who pays for extra nights if you are not fit. Ask your own surgeon or GP how long after abdominal surgery they advise before flying; the flight home is also covered in the bariatric guide.

6. Who answers on day three, in your language?

Name the person, the hours and the channel. Agree in advance which UK or Irish hospital you would go to, and plan on telling them what you had done. In several of these accounts fever, pain or thirst came before the collapse. New fever or worsening pain after abdominal surgery is a reason to attend an emergency department that day, whatever a clinic's messages say. Who is responsible for aftercare sets out the rest.

7. What records will you leave with?

Operation note, anaesthetic record, discharge summary, blood results and consent forms, in a form your own doctors can read. In the Morrissey inquest the surgery note and the post-mortem disagreed about where the bleed was, and records written elsewhere were what everyone relied on. See what records to ask for.

Copyable checklist

1. Facility and agent: found on the register; legal name matches the contract; agent's pre-referral checks and complication procedure asked for in writing
2. Surgeon: full name and registration details; compared with the register entry; confirmed as the person who operates
3. Assessment: contents, who does it and when; clots, heart history and medicines covered; my GP told
4. Operation: named in writing; what could change it; who explains a change before sedation
5. Flight: minimum stay in writing; the examination behind the fit-to-fly letter; extra nights paid by whom
6. Day three: a named contact, hours and language; a UK or Irish hospital agreed; symptoms that mean an emergency department the same day
7. Records: operation note, anaesthetic record, discharge summary, results and consent in hand before I leave

How does Clinimora investigate a clinic?

The register tells you whether a facility is authorised. It does not tell you what the clinic's own paperwork shows, whether the people named in its quote are the people recorded against it, or whether its promises about assessment and aftercare hold up. A Clinic Investigation takes one named clinic and builds a dossier on those questions, with the findings and their limits stated. It cannot judge a surgeon's skill or predict how an operation will go, and the clinic cannot pay Clinimora for anything. See the Research Pass.