The family of a Wicklow woman who died last year after a cosmetic surgery operation has called on the Minister for Health to regulate the industry in Ireland.
A Dublin County Coroner's Court inquest today found that Bernadette Reid died suddenly due to acute cardiac arrhythmia and other conditions, with obesity as a contributory cause.
Her son Michael has advised people considering cosmetic surgery to look at other less risky options.
A French surgeon who performed the cosmetic surgery on Mrs Reid told the inquest that it was the first death he had encountered after 2,000 such procedures.
Dr Jerome Manuceau said he conducted the necessary tests on Mrs Reid before the operation at the Advanced Cosmetic Surgery clinic on Foster Avenue in south Dublin on 27 February last year.
But early on during the gastric binding procedure, he found what he believed were cancer tumours on the wall of her stomach, took some biopsies and halted the operation.
He said he visited Mrs Reid in the clinic after the surgery and she appeared to have no problems.
Operation halted after two hours
Dr Manuceau told the court that he had not sought information from the woman's GP on her medical history before the operation.
Nurse Lou Kellet, the director of clinical services at the facility, said it was the first occasion that a patient had died in 13 years of providing care.
Nurse Kellet said that in four other cases, patients had to be transferred to hospital due to complications.
She told the inquest that the operation lasted about two hours and proceeded up to the point of the insertion of the gastric band.
However, a growth was found on the patient's oesophagus and the band could not be inserted.
Instead the growth was removed and sent off for tests and Mrs Reid was returned to the recovery area.
She suffered a cardiac arrest at 4.15am the next morning and was pronounced dead a short time later.
Dr Siobhan McCabe, the patient's family doctor, said Mrs Reid was unsuitable for any surgery as she was overweight and had chronic asthma.
She said she had strongly advised her not to have the operation but Mrs Reid was anxious to lose weight.
Nurse Nancy Kelly who worked at the clinic told the inquest that after the operation Mrs Reid appeared well but when her pulse stopped at around 4.15am on the morning of 28 February, the equipment failed to send out an alarm signal.
