A mum who went to Turkey for weight-loss surgery collapsed the day she arrived home before dying of septic shock.
The details of how Pamela Canty died has led to a coroner speaking out to highlight the dangers of going abroad for elective surgeries and asking those considering it to understand the risks. Ms Canty died at Mercy University Hospital on October 23, 2022, two days after arriving home.
Coroner Philip Comyn opened an inquest into the death of the 53-year-old at Cork Coroner's Court. The inquest heard Pamela travelled to the Su Hospital in Izmir to undergo a gastric sleeve operation for weight loss. She travelled to Turkey with her husband Finbarr Canty and their son Joshua on October 17, 2022. Her husband had previously had a successful gastric sleeve surgery at a different hospital in Turkey a few months previously.
The couple had made contact with doctors at the Su Hospital online and the court heard how they had been primarily communicating with doctors at Su Hospital via WhatsApp before arriving in Turkey. Pamela had a blood test when she arrived at the hospital and brought medical records with her to show to doctors at the hospital.
Coroner Philip Comyn has spoken out (Provision Photography)Mr Canty told the court how doctors had informed Pamela that she had a hernia in her oesophagus and that she was no longer suitable for a gastric sleeve. Doctors told the couple, through interpreters, that they would be able to repair the hernia and then perform a gastric bypass procedure instead. Mr Canty suggested at the time that they travel home and to seek treatment for the hernia in Ireland, Cork Beo reports.
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But Pamela agreed to the change in procedure in Turkey and underwent surgery at Su Hospital on October 17. After her operation, Pamela was said to be "sleepy" and was only given oral fluids. Mr Canty described how his wife was showing early signs of infection including sweating, nausea and vomiting.
On October 20, Ms Canty was discharged from hospital and on October 21 she flew home, making one connection in Munich and landing in Dublin before travelling to Cork on the bus. At each airport, she was given a wheelchair as she was not feeling well.
The night she arrived home, Pamela "didn't look great" while travelling home to Cork. Mr Canty said she watched some TV and then went to bed. The next morning, October 22, she was "sweating uncontrollably" and was showing signs of having a fever. That afternoon, she collapsed. Mr Canty told how he performed CPR on Pamela while awaiting an ambulance and she was taken to the Mercy Hospital in Cork city.
Colorectal specialist and General Surgeon, Professor Micheal O'Riordain, who treated her when she was brought to hospital, told the court that Pamela underwent an emergency surgery to fix a defect in her bowel where the bypass had burst open. She was placed on life support in the Intensive Care Unit. She died on October 23.
Prof O'Riordain said that a gastric bypass is primarily used for blockages and obstructions in the bowel and is not a recognised bariatric procedure for weight loss.
Dr Margot Bolster, assistant state pathologist, performed an autopsy and ruled that Pamela's cause of death was septic shock due to dehiscence at a gastrojejunal bypass with peritonitis (inflammation of the abdomen) and a mediastinitis (inflammation or infection of the thoracic cavity) - recognised complications of a gastric bypass.
Coroner Philip Comyn returned a verdict of death by medical misadventure and said that "there were clear signs of infection" while Pamela was in hospital and said that she "should have been brought back to hospital" rather than being discharged just two days after intensive surgery.
He added that evidence from Prof O'Riordain highlighted the importance of patients being fully informed when travelling abroad for surgery including differences in level of care, "in light of how (the situation) would have been handled here (in Ireland)."
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