Woman dies during Thai cosmetic surgery op

A British woman has died during cosmetic surgery at a clinic in Thailand, authorities in the country have said.

The 24-year-old was said to have been undergoing a procedure by an allegedly uncertified surgeon in Bangkok before her death.

She reportedly died during a corrective procedure after undergoing surgery at the same clinic in the Thai capital weeks earlier.

Boonruang Triruangworawat, an official at the Health Service Support Department, said attempts had been made to revive the woman, who stopped breathing after being given an anaesthetic.

Police said the doctor who carried out the operations, named as Sompob Sansiri, was later arrested. The clinic has been shut for 60 days while investigations are carried out.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office said: “We were informed of the death of a British national in Thailand on 23 October.”

Consultant plastic surgeon Michael Cadier, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: “Details are still emerging, but it’s important that the public remember the serious risks involved in any surgery, which are increased by travel abroad.

“This tragic case highlights how, if lured by the prospect of what is essentially ’cheap surgery’, patients can be left vulnerable.

“In some cases, patients are even being treated by a person without proper surgical credentials — if any at all — which breaches all the fundamental guidelines for safe practice in cosmetic surgery in the UK. The idea of selling any surgery as a holiday package is trivialising a major surgical procedure which can have devastating consequences.”