Wolverhampton solicitor, 28, died from sepsis after plastic surgery in Turkey
The mother of a Wolverhampton solicitor who died after plastic surgery in Turkey had to “slap her face” to keep her awake - after she became unwell after being discharged.
Diarra Brown, from Henwood Road, Tettenhall, died on October 26, 2021, three days after undergoing liposuction, an arm lift and fat transfer surgery, also known as a 'Brazilian bum lift' at a private clinic in Turkey.
The hearing was told that the 28-year-old took out a £10,000 loan for the procedure that was carried out by plastic surgeon Dr Seveket Gokhan Bayhan at the private Memorial Bahcelievler Hospital in Istanbul.
Giving evidence, consultant microbiologist Dr Vanya Gant said in his opinion sepsis and septic shock were the drivers in the solicitor’s death and added that it was an unusual situation when she was reported to have been on the road to recovery.
He said: "It is still my opinion that Miss Brown died of overwhelming sepsis and cardiac arrest. The fact that no organism was found can be explained in several ways.
"I have seen patients where you could not find the bug, but without doubt, death was caused by sepsis or septic shock. I tried very hard to generate an alternative hypothesis of how she died. I do not believe there can be in this case because of the overwhelming presentation and all the adjunctive laboratory findings that we have.
“Diarra Brown was a healthy young lady who went to Turkey. She had a disastrous, very rapid and complete collapse of her circulation, and she died very rapidly afterwards.
“I looked for a cause, and I found sepsis and septic shock when you look at the features and the post mortem, all of them concordant with these features. Essentially, she came back from the hospital very ill and significantly hypotensive.”
In his statement, which was read out at the inquest held in Oldbury on Tuesday, Dr Bayhan stated the five-hour procedure had gone well, and there had been no complications. And that emails and texts were exchanged between his team and Miss Brown and her mother, Daisy, who had accompanied her.
The inquest heard that Miss Brown returned to her hotel after being discharged, but returned to the hospital’s emergency department on October 25, complaining of feeling weak, severe pain and bladder issues. Despite treatment, she died in the early hours of the following day.
In her statement, her mother, Daisy Brown, stated how her daughter told her to “slap her face” to help her stay conscious as her condition worsened.
A post-mortem carried out when the body was flown home was unable to ascertain the cause of death.
Assistant Black Country Coroner, Miss Kelly Dixon, gave the cause of death as cardiac arrest, sepsis, septic shock, and plastic surgery.
She said, on the evidence provided by Dr Gant, who had read the report sent from Turkey, and from the statement given by Ms Brown’s mother, that the lawyer had suffered a catastrophic clinical collapse.
In her short narrative conclusion, Ms Dixson said: “Miss Brown died as a result of sepsis and septic shock, against a background of recent cosmetic surgery.”
Speaking at the conclusion of the inquest, Miss Brown’s mother, Daisy, told the Express & Star: “The hearing went the way that I hoped it would.”
In her statement to the inquest, she explained how she "lost it" in front of the hospital staff when she was told that her daughter, who had recently qualified as an employment lawyer, had passed away.
The 28-year-old had previously undergone surgery to reduce her stomach size in Egypt in 2017 in a bid to lose weight followed by breast augmentation in London in 2020.