The mother of a beauty therapist who died following breast enlargement and tummy tuck surgery told an inquest that her daughter was advised she could have both procedures “at the same time as it would be cheaper”.
Louise Harvey, 36, of Norwich, died on July 5 2018 after undergoing the operations in London on June 17 2018.
A post-mortem examination recorded that the mother-of-three died of a bilateral pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that occurs in the lungs.
Secondary causes were recorded as breast augmentation and abdominoplasty, the medical term for a tummy tuck.
Her mother Linda Harvey, 53, said her family had a history of blood clots.
She said that her daughter was sent home without blood thinners, Monday’s inquest in Norwich heard.
In a statement read by Norfolk’s area coroner Yvonne Blake, Linda Harvey said that her daughter wanted a tummy tuck as “she felt she had some loose skin around her belly following the birth of her youngest son”.
She said Miss Harvey spoke with someone at the clinic and “they suggested having (the two operations) at the same time as it would be cheaper”.
Her three-hour surgery was completed on June 17 2018 and she took a taxi home to Norwich on June 19 2018.
Her mother said Miss Harvey was not given blood thinners to take home, adding that “if Louise had been advised about this I would have expected her to tell me”.
At an outpatient appointment in Norwich on June 26 Miss Harvey was advised that the “stitches were OK” and “she was healing well”, her mother said.
But an ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital on July 3 after she collapsed and started fitting, her mother said.
“Louise’s organs were giving up,” her mother said.
“She had blood clots in her heart and lungs.”
She said that on July 4 Miss Harvey was able to talk, asked where she was and if her sons could visit her.
She died on July 5.
Her mother said that on July 12 2018 “Transform called to offer their condolences but couldn’t offer any explanation as to what happened”.
Consultant plastic surgeon Manish Sinha, who performed the operations on Miss Harvey at Transform Riverside Hospital, which has since closed, was asked questions by Ms Blake.
She asked: “When you saw Louise and you discussed the risks of any surgery, were you aware of her family history, her sister having had a clot and her grandmother?”
“No ma’am, I was not,” he said.
He said it was not his usual practice to read a pre-assessment form completed by a patient with a nurse, in which Miss Harvey’s family history of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) was recorded, “unless specific things have been flagged up to me”.