Gastric sleeve surgery leads to death: 'Forgive me, it was my mistake'

26-year-old Neslihan Yılmaz, who had moved from the Terme district of Samsun to Ankara and worked at a call center, lost her life as a result of a gastric sleeve surgery she underwent to lose excess weight.

Yılmaz, who stayed in the hospital for 3 days following the surgery performed on May 27 at a private hospital in the Fatsa district of Ordu, was subsequently discharged. However, after falling ill at home, the young woman was taken back to the hospital, underwent two more separate surgeries on June 12 and 17, and passed away on June 21 despite all interventions.

The family expressed that they were in deep shock following this incident and stated that they are awaiting an explanation from the authorities. There has been no official statement yet from the hospital management or the doctors who performed the surgery regarding the incident.

THEY FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST THE DOCTOR AND HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT

The grieving family, who lost their daughter, filed a complaint against the general surgery specialist who performed the operation and the hospital management on the grounds of "causing death by negligence and other crimes."

In the complaint petition submitted to the court by her mother, Zübeyde Yılmaz, it was stated: “When my daughter's vitals were taken before the surgery, it was said that the surgery would not take place because some of her values were high. Specifically, since her triglyceride was 1,123 and CRP was 16.5, the anesthesiologist had provided information that she could not be taken into surgery with these values. Doctor E.A. said that the anesthesiologist did not allow the surgery due to my daughter's high values, but that he had performed surgeries this way before and no problems had occurred, and that he had convinced the anesthesiologist. While it was necessary to wait for these values to drop and for my daughter to reach values suitable for surgery, she was operated on by Doctor E.A. on the same day, May 27, 2024. After this surgery, my daughter never recovered and lost her life.”

'YOU ARE DRINKING TOO MUCH WATER, DON'T DRINK TOO MUCH, THAT'S WHY IT'S HAPPENING'

Stating that her daughter was constantly ill after the first surgery, mother Zübeyde Yılmaz continued as follows:

"Neslihan wanted to have the surgery. We admitted her to the hospital in the Fatsa district of Ordu and had her tests done. We were told that she would be admitted to the hospital and operated on on May 27, 2024. Her tests were done and she was taken into surgery that day. After the surgery, we stayed in the hospital for 3 days and then returned home. When we got home, my daughter couldn't eat anything and was constantly vomiting. From that day on, she definitely had no sleep or rest, and she was also having difficulty breathing. We spoke with the doctor and went back to the hospital, and in our meeting with the doctor, they told my daughter, ‘You are drinking too much water, don't drink too much, that's why it's happening.’”

'FORGIVE ME, IT WAS MY MISTAKE'

Claiming that her daughter was taken into surgery for the second time after the first operation and that the doctor told them, “I apologize, forgive me, it was my mistake, the stomach had twisted,” mother Zübeyde Yılmaz spoke as follows:

“During this time, my daughter did not improve; she was constantly running a fever. My child was never comfortable, and she couldn't sleep either. Later, the hospital said they would take her for a third surgery, and they did. Before this surgery, they put us in the maternity ward because of the holiday, and the air conditioners were turned off in this ward. Since we were the only patients, they didn't turn on the air conditioners. The people at the hospital and the nurses scolded us; I was taking photos of my daughter and sending them to her doctor, keeping him informed of her condition, and they didn't even allow that. We experienced terrible things. Afterward, I lost my daughter. I am filing a complaint against the doctor and the nurses. I believe it was the doctor's fault. My child will not come back, there is no possibility. They ruined my child.”

'VERY BAD THINGS HAPPENED, NO EXPLANATION WAS GIVEN'

Stating that they were not given any health information about their daughter's condition during the approximately one-month period they stayed at the hospital and that they were constantly told her condition was good, mother Yılmaz said, “During the 26 days we stayed in the hospital, no explanation was given by the hospital management or the doctor in any way. Even after my daughter passed away, no explanation was given. I am still waiting for an explanation; I want to learn why my child passed away. What did she experience during the hospital process? Very bad things happened, but no explanation was given. There wasn't even a file at my child's bedside; when we asked when her blood pressure was measured or when a blood test was done, they only told us ‘she is very good,’ we don't know anything else.”

Neslihan's sister, Mihriban Yılmaz (24), said, “My sister Neslihan had set out on this path with great hopes, thinking she would be happy. She didn't know it would turn out like this; later, she herself was very regretful and sad. I miss her so much. I hope Turkish justice does everything that needs to be done; we trust in justice.”

'I AM SURE THERE WAS NO SURGICAL ERROR'

Stating that there was no "surgical error" in the operations, Doctor E.A. said, “I am sure there was no surgical error. This is a complication; I performed all the interventions. I performed the surgeries, I didn't sleep at night, and we took care of her during the intensive care process. We had to perform those surgeries. I understand people's pain, the mother's psychology; after all, she lost her daughter. I do not accept that I made a mistake, and I am the one who wants the incident to be taken to the judiciary so that it is revealed that nothing happened, and I am sure of this. I am sure that when it goes to an expert witness, they will say, ‘these had to be done this way, all of them were done, but it didn't work out.’”

'I STAND BEHIND THE WORK I DID UNTIL THE END'

Doctor E.A. said the following:

“I am also very sad that I lost my patient. Honestly, I never foresaw such a thing. After my patient's last surgery, the intra-abdominal area recovered, there was no problem, her blood values were improving, but the patient was deteriorating. I absolutely do not accept that I made a mistake or had a surgical error. I stand behind the work I did until the end. Let this incident be taken to the judiciary; after all, there is a mystery here. Everything is on record. The stomach twists; this has nothing to do with me. The stomach can twist after a sleeve gastrectomy. After this twists, I, as a surgeon, have to intervene, and I did what needed to be done.”

News Source: 12punto