The Turkish beauty industry's dark side
Nose operations, hair transplants or liposuction: The beauty industry is booming in Turkey. Clinics and agencies are attracting medical tourists from abroad with low prices. Back home in countries like Britain, procedures often cost twice or three times as much. However, cases of botched procedures and even deaths are on the rise. Victims and relatives are demanding accountability. #DWstories
Transcript
00:00Feeling good, with perfect figures, the advertising of cosmetic surgery clinics and agencies.
00:13Countries like Turkey are attracting customers with their budget prices, but the fantasy
00:17of a flawless appearance can often end with lifelong scarring, and in the worst cases,
00:28even in death.
00:34Every year, hundreds of thousands of British women fly to Turkey for cosmetic surgery,
00:40and are often in for a nasty shock.
00:45We only rent them the operating room.
00:49Now victims of medical malpractice and the families of those who have died are demanding
01:25A few days after this voice message from Turkey, Erin Gibson's daughter was dead.
01:32Twenty-year-old Morgan from South London had long struggled with her weight.
01:37She wanted to put an end to being bullied.
01:41In 2023, she spotted an advertisement from this agency in Switzerland, claiming to be
01:46the number one in Europe.
01:49They would arrange cosmetic surgery in Turkey, flights and accommodation included, a common
01:54business model in the industry.
01:57Morgan was offered the surgery for a third of the price she would pay in Britain.
02:01She was referred to a doctor and a clinic in Istanbul.
02:04At the end of the year, Morgan posted a video to her TikTok account.
02:11Hi, my name is Morgan, I'm 20 years old and on the 5th of January 2024, I'm having weight
02:20loss surgery, specifically a gastric sleeve.
02:25It feels crazy to say that out loud because I've wanted this for so long.
02:29What Morgan didn't know, the agency Global Medical Care turns out to be little more than
02:35a name on the mailbox of a Zurich rental property.
02:39She couldn't find an office.
02:41Upon enquiry, the agency stated that they meet clients there by appointment only.
02:49Shortly after New Year's Day 2024, Morgan and her boyfriend Jamie flew from London to
02:55Istanbul.
03:00She thought, yeah, new year, new life, new body.
03:06She wanted to learn more about the beauty business and travelled to Istanbul.
03:11Hundreds of thousands of medical tourists come here every year, with the trend on the
03:15rise.
03:18The full gamut of beauty treatments is available, from hair transplants, to breast augmentation,
03:25to liposuction, all at comparatively affordable prices.
03:32According to the government, 1.5 million patients visited Turkey in 2023, a billion-dollar business
03:39for the struggling local economy.
03:42Most treatments are carried out without complications, and many clinics and doctors enjoy good reputations.
03:49The fiercely competitive market, though, is increasingly attracting ruthless business
03:53people.
03:58The day after her arrival, Morgan was taken to the designated private clinic in an Istanbul
04:04suburb, a hospital which has received dozens of complaints on Turkish websites.
04:11Following the breast augmentation, the silicone has slipped.
04:14They're denying any responsibility.
04:18Egg-sized bumps on my stomach after liposuction.
04:21They're demanding another 3,000 euros for a follow-up operation.
04:26Allegedly, the employees have only received their wages irregularly for years now.
04:30In the past three years, the owner has changed several times.
04:34After the surgery, Morgan complained of persistent pain.
04:37Nevertheless, she was discharged after three days.
04:41On the return flight, she collapsed.
04:43An emergency landing was made in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where a few days later,
04:48despite an emergency operation, she died.
04:56Serbian forensic scientist Djordje Alampjevic was responsible for the autopsy.
05:04It was a profound infection and then septicemia, you know, so spreading of infection.
05:10Doctors had removed a segment of a small intestine, which appears to be damaged, injured, during
05:21the surgical procedure, which was presiding all these happenings and which took place
05:27in Istanbul, in Turkey.
05:29We wanted to speak to the people in charge of the Istanbul clinic about Morgan Ribeiro's case.
05:35The director remembered the young woman from England, but waived any responsibility.
05:42We only rent them the operating room.
05:44The doctor is not one of ours.
05:46They just rented the OR from us for the operation.
05:49The doctor works for another clinic.
05:52A version of events that was disputed by the Global Medical Care Agency when we approached them.
06:02We also contacted the doctor in Istanbul, who rejected any accusations of malpractice.
06:08He declined to be interviewed.
06:11I've already said all that's necessary.
06:14There was supposedly an infection and who knows what else.
06:17It's all too easy to slander someone.
06:23Morgan Ribeiro isn't the first British resident who has not survived an operation in Turkey.
06:29In the past five years, at least 28 British women have died as a result of surgeries there.
06:36Some British politicians are now calling for a ban on advertising such medical tourism
06:41over the internet.
06:47Sarah Platt was lured in by a similar offer.
06:50Today, she says she barely survived a tummy tuck and breast surgery in Turkey.
06:55Back home in Wales, she needed nine follow-up surgeries to return some semblance of normal life.
07:08I used to be very outgoing and go out wherever.
07:12I don't do any of that anymore.
07:13I absolutely hate my body now.
07:16On February 7, 2023, 33-year-old Sarah flew to Antalya on the Mediterranean Sea,
07:23accompanied by her parents.
07:25The Turkish metropolis is one of the country's hotspots for medical tourism.
07:29She too had booked through an agency.
07:32Yes, I was taken to the hotel and before I'd even been taken to my room,
07:37like literally, I hadn't even seen the doctor again or nothing.
07:41They wanted payment as soon as I got to the hotel.
07:44Following the surgery, Platt says the ordeal began.
07:47Her wounds weren't healing.
07:49She was nonetheless discharged from hospital and taken to her hotel.
07:54I had pain everywhere and I was vomiting and I was crying and I was screaming
07:58and then I'd pass out and then I'd come back round and then I'd pass out again.
08:02I've got the message still, like, when do they change my bandages?
08:05And I had a message back on WhatsApp saying, they don't, they don't.
08:09You leave them bandages on, it's better for the healing.
08:12And I was thinking, I haven't had a bath in nine days.
08:16Do you mean I haven't had a shower? I haven't been washed.
08:19Do you mean the smell of this rotting, I could smell rotting flesh.
08:24I remember Dean walking me into the shower.
08:26All this, all this gunk just kept, was pouring out.
08:30And I was like, I was screaming.
08:32And I remember being like, Dean, it's blood, like, Dean, it's blood.
08:37Even over a year later, she's still suffering from the fallout.
08:41She's sued the Turkish clinic for damages.
08:44Through social media, she's connected with other British victims
08:48of mishandled Turkish cosmetic surgeries.
08:51She intends to fight for her rights.
08:56Late June, London, opposite the Houses of Parliament at Westminster,
09:00a Turkish medical tourism fair promoting exactly these kinds of surgeries is being held.
09:05When Sarah Platt hears about it, she's outraged.
09:08She wants to expose the industry's methods.
09:10Fitted with a hidden camera, she visits a clinic's booth
09:13and feigns interest in gastric reduction surgery.
09:17The representative initially advises against the procedure.
09:23Your BMI?
09:2429.5.
09:2529? Oh, you don't look it.
09:28OK, for gastric sleeve surgery, a BMI of 29 is really low.
09:34That's not possible.
09:37But not five minutes later, she receives a WhatsApp message
09:41from the same provider with an alternative offer.
09:45I'm on about a gastric balloon.
09:48It would be my pleasure to help you, I say.
09:52However, a gastric balloon is only recommended for people with a BMI over 30.
09:57Some medical societies even advise against the risky method altogether.
10:04Genco Çetin Kanat, from the Turkish Chamber of Commerce,
10:08relies above all on the judgment of patients.
10:11They should not fall for the bargain offers advertised.
10:17If your only focus is price, this is not going to be the right decision.
10:23But you have to understand why this is cheap.
10:27Check your doctor, if that doctor is European board certified
10:32or Turkish medical authorities accredited that doctor for international health tourism.
10:40At this stage, the only option left open for Sarah Platt
10:43and many other victims of botched cosmetic surgeries
10:46is to sue those responsible in Turkey from Britain.
10:50It's a painstaking process,
10:52one that's often accompanied by British-Turkish lawyer Berja Orhan.
10:56A lot of the time, people who have solid cases come to me.
11:00They just can't deal with the financial or emotional aspect
11:03of having to sue in another country, therefore they give up.
11:07She's of the opinion that stricter regulation of the intermediary agencies,
11:11for instance, could better protect patients.
11:14If these medical tourism agencies were to be insured,
11:18they had to go through qualifications like we all do,
11:21estate agents, anyone really, surveyors.
11:25So none of this would happen.
11:28Because what they will do then, these medical agencies,
11:31will start picking the surgeons who won't make these mistakes.
11:35Mistakes that can end in death, as they did for Morgan Ribeiro.
11:40Her mother hopes that public knowledge of her daughter's fate
11:43will prevent other young women from risking their health and their lives for looks.
11:51My daughter deserved to feel confident in her own skin,
11:55regardless of her size.
11:57She deserved to be beautiful and feel beautiful without stigma,
12:01without being bullied.
12:03She deserved to have a life as much as anybody else
12:06or any other 20-year-old who is alive.
12:10She hadn't even begun to live life yet.
12:15She was so full of promise.
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