'Loving' mum who had weight loss surgery 'to feel better about herself' after caesarean dies a week later

A London mum died in Turkey from surgery complications – leaving behind her 11-month old son.

Khelisyah Ashamu, 26, from Dagenham, had a gastric bypass in February 2019.

Walthamstow Coroner’s Court heard the IT professional wanted the £3,000 procedure as soon as she could after the caesarean birth of her then 11-month-old son.

Some people opt to come to Turkey for the procedure as they could wait “for years” on NHS waiting lists and it is much cheaper, the inquest heard today.

Khelisyah arrived in Turkey for the surgery on January 31, 2019, and underwent the procedure at Izmir Ekol Hospital on February 2.

She had a second procedure on February 3 to examine some inflammation and make an opening slightly wider – but half an hour later suffered a cardiac arrest.

Dad Oyebanji Ashamu flew out to his daughter’s bedside on February 5 but was told she was brain dead the next day.

Her life support had to be turned off, and she died on February 9.

Khelisyah, who was obese and had a BMI of 42.6, booked the procedure through a company run by British ex-pat Tracey Ozdemir called ‘Get Slim’.

Ms Ozdemir told the inquest that the company books up to 4,000 patients a year for bariatric surgery at the hospital.

She admitted that one other patient (who had booked through the company) had died since the company was set up in 2017 but they were not treated by the same surgeon as Khelisyah.

The court heard Khelisyah contacted the company in December 2018 and initially asked for a gastric sleeve before asking if she could have the more complicated gastric bypass procedure.

While a gastric bypass – also known as a Roux-en-Y – involves using surgical staples to create a small pouch at the top of the stomach, in gastric sleeve surgery 80% of the stomach is removed.

She had a consultation with Dr Ismail Yaman on Zoom and met him for another when she arrived in Turkey – where she was advised of risks including the risk of death as one to two people in every 1,000.

Members of Khelisyah’s family, represented by surgery abroad lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, appeared over video link for the inquest at Barking and Dagenham Adult’s College.

In a statement, her dad, Oyebanji Ashamu, told the inquest: “When the hospital called us to say she was in a medically-induced coma they presented it as something they needed to do and we were not alarmed at first.

“When I got there… I asked what they were doing and what they were waiting for.

“They said it was a suspected blood clot and they were giving her medicine to remove the clot.

“She had a fever at some point, I could see she was sweating, they said she was OK.

“They said she might come back from the coma.

“I saw the brain surgeon go into the room.

“I was taken into a room and told she was brain dead.

“They asked me about organ donation and said her organs were shutting down a bit every day.

“I couldn’t deal with making a decision.

“While I was on the way to the airport the hospital called me to say I needed to come back.

“When I came back, Khelisyah was already in a bag in the mortuary.”

Her mother Toyin added, in a joint statement: “The shock of losing my daughter is still to sink in.

“I still can’t believe she died and don’t understand why.

“Khelisyah was such a loving daughter and adored her young son.

“It’s simply heartbreaking for us all facing life without her.

“There’s not a day that goes by without some reminder of what she meant to the family and what her death has cost us.

“Khelisyah wanted the surgery following her pregnancy and caesarean section to feel better about herself.

“Our grandson is a living reminder of his mum, which brings us so much comfort, but it’s devastating that he will not remember his mum because he was only 11 months old when she left and never came back.

“We have to tell him how much his mum loved him.

“She would be so proud to see how he has changed from a small baby to a fine young boy.

“Having to go through the inquest was awful, but necessary to investigate what happened.

“We will continue to work with our lawyers to try and get to the truth of how our beautiful daughter died.

“It’s hard not to think things could have been so different and we can only hope that others will think twice before booking surgical procedures abroad.”

A post-mortem took place in Turkey and a second in the UK – but pathologists were unable to find why Khelisyah suffered a cardiac arrest after the second procedure.

Dr Yaman said: “I have not lost a single one of my patients and I have not experienced any significant complications in any of those patients, Miss Ashamu being the only exception.

“Even the rates of possible complications have been close to zero in my patients.”

Summing up the evidence, assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “Khelisyah Ashamu was only 26 years old, a much-loved daughter and mother.

“I think it is difficult to be able to give a very clear and precise cause of death.

“I don’t really think we have understood why the cardiac arrest occurred.”

She recorded that Khelisyah died as a result of complications of a surgical procedure.

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