Lawyer died from sepsis days after Brazilian butt carry and liposuction surgical procedure
Diarra Brown, 28, died after opting for the invasive surgery at a private clinic in Turkey after feeling ‘pressure to look slim in the legal profession’ an inquest heard
Diarra died after fat removal surgery(Image: @diarra.brown/Newsflash)
A lawyer died from sepsis just days after undergoing a Brazilian butt lift and liposuction surgery.
Diarra Brown, 28, passed away after opting for the invasive surgery which she had done at a private clinic in Turkey after feeling “pressure to look slim in the legal profession”, an inquest heard.
The hearing was told she had taken out a £10,000 loan to pay for a liposuction, a BBL and an arm lift after being teased at work for being overweight and underwent the four hour op in 2021 at the Private Memorial Hospital in, Bahcelievler, Turkey. Black Country Coroners Court was told how the procedures were intended to give Diarra her confidence back after a series of weight loss operations, which saw her drop eight dress sizes from a size 18 to size 10.
But just hours after the surgery on October 22 Diarra, of Wolverhampton, began to feel cold and complained she was sore, bruised and in severe pain. Dr Sevket Gokhan Beyhan, who carried out the surgery, and his team told the family that this was normal following surgery and it would pass.
Over the weekend her condition deteriorated and her mum Daisy Brown contacted the hospital staff on multiple occasions but says she was reassured everything was fine. Diarra died three days after the procedure and Black Country Assistant Coroner Kelly Dixon concluded she had died of sepsis and septic shock.
In a statement read out by the coroner, Mrs Brown said: “Before she had the bariatric surgery, she felt there was a pressure to be slim in the legal profession. During her training, she was still overweight and I think she got teased about it at her work. I don’t know what point she started talking to surgeons about the liposuction.
“I know she started talking to one surgeon in Turkey about doing all the surgery at the same time, and he said he could. The surgeon reassured Diarra that it would be safe.
“She spoke to the surgeon on WhatsApp before travelling to Turkey. She mentioned that this would be the last step in her weight loss journey and she didn’t want anything else after this.”
Diarra and her mother flew to Turkey on October 20 2021. two days before her surgery after being reassured the operation was possible. Mrs Brown said: “They did blood tests, Covid tests and other preoperative tests.
“We were confident that Dr Bayhab had never had a death and he told us he had done the procedure hundreds of times. Diarra had asked the surgeon if it was safe to be under anaesthetic for over five hours, he said it was. He said he had never lost a patient.”
The inquest heard Diarra went under the knife on October 22 but soon began to suffer severe symptoms. Mrs Brown’ statement continued: “The surgeon told her it was normal for someone coming out of anaesthesia to have these symptoms.
“The nurses came into walk her around the room. She said she couldn’t as she couldn’t see as she was in so much pain. She could hardly put one foot in front of the other. Her feet was swollen and she couldn’t bend her toes on her left foot.
“Both feet were swollen but her left foot was more swollen. It was hard for her to stand up. Later on I helped pull her onto the bed as she couldn’t move. She couldn’t move or sleep.”
Diarra went back into hospital on October 25 for a change of wraps. Mrs Brown added: “Diarra could not walk, she was sweating and had a high temp, was breathless and lethargic and she was in and out of consciousness. Her eyes kept rolling back.”
Mrs Brown said Dr Bayhan reassured her and told her to go back to the hotel while they kept Diarra in overnight, but her condition worsened and she had a suspected cardiac arrest. Dr Vanya Gant, a consultant in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases at University College London Hospitals, examined the medical data and post mortem.
Dr Gant said: “Diarra Brown was a healthy young lady who went to Turkey. She suffered a disastrous and very rapid and complete collapse.
“One of the causes was uncontrolled sepsis and septic shock. Essentially Diarra Brown came back into hospital very fatigued. She had significant hypertension.”
The coroner recorded a conclusion she died of sepsis and septic shock against a background of cosmetic surgery.
She said: “I am satisfied that Diarra died as a result of sepsis and septic shock, leading to cardiac arrest. Dr Gant was clear that sepsis alone is sufficient to cause cardiac arrest and that whatever the immediate precipitating mechanism that Diarra would not have suffered a cardiac arrest but for the presence of overwhelming sepsis.
“I am not able to be satisfied on the evidence whether the source of the sepsis was the bacteria introduced at the time of surgery or a rapidly progressing urinary tract infection.”
The medical cause of death was recorded as cardiac arrest, with sepsis and septic shock and contributing into the liposuction, gluteal fat transfer and brachioplasty surgery. The coroner said: “While the evidence does not permit a conclusion as to whether the sepsis raised directly from surgical introduction of bacteria, or from a catheter-associated urinary tract infection, I am satisfied that the surgery materially contributed to the sequence of events leading to death, either direct introduction of infection or from post operative complications.”
