In tragic news, last month (June 2025) 31 year old Brazilian social media influencer Ana Barbara Bur Buldrini has died after undergoing a cosmetic surgery procedure in Istanbul.
The extensive procedure, involving liposuction, breast augmentation and rhinoplasty, was performed on a Sunday at the Tusa Hospital in Pendik, Istanbul. According to reports, the original operation date the previous Wednesday had been cancelled. Ms Buldrini and her partner visited the hospital on a Sunday simply to inspect the facility, but Ana was rushed into theatre immediately, allegedly without adequate preparation. The surgery was completed at 11pm and the patient never woke up. The exact cause of death is uncertain.
A number of red flags are obvious in this story. Firstly, the size of the procedure, and the number of different body areas operated on, implies a very long procedure – certainly at least six hours under general anaesthesia, with significant tissue trauma being inevitable from so many different procedures being combined together.
Secondly, the fact that the surgery was not scheduled on that day – was the patient properly fasted, or had she eaten or drunk fluids already that day?
This tragedy is not the first or last time a death has occurred or will occur within Turkey’s thriving cosmetic surgery tourism industry. Last year, 58 year old British national Anne Towlson died after undergoing abdominoplasty and liposuction at Green Park Hospital – also in Pendik, Istanbul. Incredibly, “at the last minute” she was encouraged to add a brachioplasty (arm lift) to an already extensive procedure. She sustained a developed a serious open infection in one of the arm incisions and died three weeks after surgery, having returned to the UK without having the infection properly cured by her Turkish doctors.
The British coroner’s report is damning: “We have no information about whether any independent inquiries were made either by the company who organised Mrs Towlson’s trip to Turkey for surgery, or the Turkish Hospital itself as to whether Mrs Towlson was fit for surgery…We have not been able to secure her medical records so have no understanding of what exactly the surgery consisted of, or what post-operative care and treatment was provided…On the balance of probabilities, Mrs Towlson was not given enough time to properly consider this decision.”
A pattern emerges: inadequate pre-operative assessment and preparation; too many procedures combined into a single too-long operation; questionable post-operative care.
A report tabled in the UK Parliament last year states: “We are aware of 28 British nationals who have died in Turkey following elective medical procedures since 2019.” Sadly, there is no specific data available confirming the number of Australian cosmetic surgery tourism deaths overseas. However, it is estimated that up to 15,000 of us venture to other countries each year to save money on their cosmetic surgery and dental procedures.
A recent survey of over 1000 Australians conducted by one travel insurance provider found that 57% of respondents would consider having their cosmetic surgery overseas, with the highest positive responses coming from the 25-34 year old age group.
However, complications from such surgeries may not be covered either by travel insurance or by Medicare. Many Australian cosmetic and plastic surgeons in private practice will simply refuse to treat patients for complications from overseas surgeries. And so they end up burdening our already over-stretched public hospital services instead.
It is well known that Australian surgical doctors are amongst the most highly trained and ethically responsible in the world. The risks of litigation, media exposure and regulatory punishments for poorly performed surgery are much higher in Australia than in popular overseas cosmetic tourism destination countries, meaning that doctors here are compelled to take much greater care and responsibility for their patients. By contrast, a poorly-paid surgeon in a less well-regulated country has no real incentive to provide first-class care to a tourist who they know will be leaving soon after their procedure, never to return.
Given all of the above, would you take the risk?
Further reading: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/site-5/health/healthyliving/medical-tourism#what-are-the-risks-of-medical-tourism