Go ‘with eyes open’, Cork coroner warns people opting for overseas surgery

Hazel Gervacio and her mother Estelita Haemlin, of Fermoy, who died in Turkey in 2021.

A coroner has highlighted the potential dangers and risks of undergoing surgery overseas and advised people to consider the move carefully, and do so with “their eyes open”.

Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn was speaking after hearing inquests into the deaths of three women who travelled overseas from Cork for surgery — one for a gastric bypass, one for liposuction, and one for major stomach surgery following a cancer diagnosis.