A mother-of-three who is believed to have died from injuries sustained during a “Brazilian bum lift” procedure reportedly wanted the operation after becoming anxious about her weight after having children.
Leah Cambridge had been keen to have the work, which involves the reshaping of the buttocks by transferring fat from other areas, including the stomach and back, for some time, an inquest heard.
The 29-year-old is said to have arranged to have the surgery in Turkey through a firm named Elite Aftercare, which acts as a go-between linking clients and surgeons, Wakefield Coroner’s Court was told.
The court had previously been told how she travelled to Izmir in August last year to have the “bum lift”, but died following complications with the procedure.
During a pre-inquest review hearing on Tuesday, Cambridge’s partner, Scott Franks, revealed how she had been interested in having the procedure for a while.
He said: “She spoke with me regarding it on several occasions, and it was obvious that she was quite interested in doing it for some time.
“Obviously she’s booked it and just gone, and that’s it, she’s gone.”
Franks also said his partner was told that she would need to put on 7kg prior to having the work done.
Speaking about Cambridge, from Leeds, Richard Paige, who is representing the family at the inquest, explained: “This was very much done on her own volition.”
Paige also quoted a report from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) which suggests that the “Brazilian buttock lift” has the highest death rate, believed to be as high as one in every 3,000 operations, of all cosmetic surgery procedures.
The report, issued in October last year, suggests that surgeons refrain from performing the treatment until more data can be obtained, due to “the risk of injecting fat into large veins that can travel to the heart or brain and cause severe illness and death”.
Sarah Hemingway, representing Elite Aftercare at the inquest, told how the firm does not directly employ the surgeons themselves, and has no formal contract with the hospital involved in the surgery.
Paige pointed out that the company’s website claims to employ “the best surgeons and nurses” for procedures.
The inquest also heard how Cambridge had been asked to fill in a “patient information anaesthesia form” prior to travelling for the surgery, but no direct contact was made between Elite Aftercare and her GP.
It had previously been explained how a provisional post-mortem examination had revealed that the mother died from a fat embolism caused by a cosmetic surgical procedure.
Reports in the aftermath of her death told how Cambridge had three heart attacks during the operation, which took place on 27 August last year.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the coroner suggested that a three-day inquest into her death would take place in early July, focusing on the contact between Cambridge and Elite Aftercare, any pre-assessments done prior to the treatment, and the procedure itself.