A hospital in Dublin sees one to three patients a week due to major complications arising from medical tourism abroad such as weight loss surgery. 

Irish surgeon Professor Colm O’Boyle warned the Cork Coroner’s Court yesterday that people who travel abroad for bariatric surgery are at a higher risk of dying. 

This follows the death of two Cork women in 2021 and 2022 who both had travelled to Turkey for weight loss surgery. 

Bariatric surgeon Professor Helen Heneghan said at St Vincent’s Hospital, they see one to three patients a week. 

“That pattern is replicated in many hospitals around the country,” she told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“Cork, Tallaght, St James’s, Beaumont, Galway – the same numbers are presenting with complications. 

“It’s very similar with surgery – our plastic surgeons are very concerned with what’s happening.” 

Risks of medical tourism

Prof Heneghan said the complications after medical tourism were due to both something going wrong after surgery and a lack of aftercare. 

“Things like leaks where there would be a hole in the gut after surgery,” she said. “There are suboptimal standards during the surgery. 

“Seeing people with multiple holes along staple lines, and in situations where you just couldn’t anticipate how that could happen. 

“Don't get me wrong, any time you do surgery on someone, there is a risk of a complication happening and for bariatric surgery, the leak should be the case for about one in 100. 

“By my impression is that it’s higher than that [in medical tourism], and I think that’s the impression of my colleagues.”

Medical equiment. Image: Pixabay

Prof Heneghan said the biggest concern is the lack of a “selection process” or “pre-operative care” for medical tourists.

“There’s no pre-operative period where surgeons would try and optimise them and do everything in their power to decrease the chance of complication,” she said. 

“They are turfed out of surgery – when there are clear signs of complications evolving, they’re still sent home.” 

The inquest into the deaths of Pamela Canty and Estelita Hamelin in Cork remains ongoing.