EXCLUSIVE Mother of young woman who died in Belgrade : "I still can't bury my child, I'll remember her words"

Photo: Facebook/Morgan Maria Ribeiro

"My daughter's body has arrived in Britain, but we can't take it over yet and I don't know when I will be able to bury her," Erin Gibson, the mother of Morgan Ribeiro (20), who died in a hospital in Belgrade after undergoing stomach reduction surgery in Turkey, said in a testimony for Telegraf.rs. The young woman was taken ill while on her way back home and the plane had to make an emergency landing in Serbia.

Recommended

Erin revealed to us her daughter's last words, as well as whether she plans to sue the hospital and the doctor who operated on her.

The mother of young Morgan from London, who traveled to Turkey for gastric surgery at the beginning of January, after years of suffering bullying due to being overweight, says that she found out about her daughter's surgery when Morgan was already on her way to Turkey, as they had not been on the best of terms.

Morgan was told by Turkish doctors three days after the operation that it was safe to travel home. She boarded the plane with her boyfriend in Istanbul, but after she fell ill during the flight, the plane made an emergency landing in Belgrade, where our doctors tried to save her life. Immediately after, Erin arrived in the Serbian capital.

"I came to Serbia after my daughter got sick on the flight. I got on the first plane and came to Belgrade. In the hospital I talked to the surgeon who operated on my daughter. The doctor, who speaks English well, explained to me that my daughter was being treated for septic shock. The doctors decided to open her abdomen to find out exactly what was happening. They discovered an infection. The surgeon told me that they had to remove ten centimeters of her small intestine to save her life. After the sepsis set in the arteries, my daughter had a heart attack and passed away," Erin said.

On Thursday, the surgeon who operated on Morgan in Istabul spoke about her death. He disagreed with the doctors in Serbia that the woman died of septic shock and claims that she died of pulmonary embolism that developed during the flight. These words by the surgeon infuriated Erin.

"The doctors in Serbia explained to me that her condition had nothing to do with flying, but that the surgeon who previously operated on her and who did not notice that he had made a mistake was to blame for the worsening of her condition. The surgeon in Istanbul discharged her and gave her the green light to go back to the UK, without even first taking her temperature or doing a blood test. She'd had a fever since she woke up from the operation. That was a sign that something was wrong. When she told him she was unwell, he told her to get up and walk and that the pain she was feeling was normal. Under all these circumstances, the doctor decided to allow her to fly, after three days, even though she showed clear signs of an infection," Erin told Telegraf.

Erin says that the Turkish surgeon's words hit her hard and that she has a few questions for him.

"One surgeon is to blame for everything, and his name is Serkan Bayil. He is the only person who operated on my daughter and is the only one responsible. I have questions for him, how is it possible that he did not realize he'd made a mistake, how could he allow her to travel in such a condition, and how he, as a human being, can justify his actions? The authorities in Serbia and Great Britain, the British embassy and the prosecutor in Serbia know that the doctor who operated on her is responsible for my daughter's death," said the inconsolable mother.

Morgan's body arrived in UK

When asked by Telegraf if she plans to sue the hospital and the doctor who first operated on her daughter, Erin replied:

"I will do whatever it takes. This is not about money. I want to prevent something like this from happening to another young person who decides to have an operation like this and spend £3,500 on it. I want to prevent these people from going through the rest of their lives disabled, or worse, end up like my daughter. My daughter is the third person this year to be hospitalized in Belgrade after a plane had to make an emergency landing due to a patient's worsening condition after plastic surgery they had in Turkey - and that was only by January 13. I can only thank the doctors in Belgrade and Serbia, as well as your authorities, for everything they did. They tried to save my daughter's life," said Erin.

Morgan's mother added that she received official results of the autopsy from Belgrade, but that due to the ongoing investigation, she cannot reveal the details. She said that he is still waiting for the documentation from Great Britain.

"All the documentation is still with my daughter. All the paperwork, even her birth certificate, are currently with the coroner. When I get those papers and when I can talk about it, of course I will make everything public so that the truth is revealed," she said.

Erin said her daughter's body has already arrived in the UK, but the family has yet to claim it.

"I don't know when they will be able to hand the body over to me, I hope it will be by Friday, but I don't know anything yet. Only once I receive my daughter's body will I be able to plan the funeral," she told the Telegraf.

Erin has new goal

She knows her daughter is gone, but will always remember her last words, even though it was just a voice message.

"After the operation, my daughter couldn't talk to us. She sent a voice message saying she was in the hospital bed, she didn't sound well. She said she was in pain, she wouldn't be able to call us until she got to a Turkish airport, and told us she loves us. That's the last thing she said to me," Erin said.

Had she known that her daughter was planning to undergo such a risky surgery, she would probably have tried to stop her, Erin said, however, they were not on speaking terms at the time. Although she was unable to save her daughter, her goal is to dissuade other young people from undergoing such a risky procedure.

"She only told me when it was all over. To all the young people  thinking about embarking on something like this, I would like to tell them not to do it. They should be happy with their body, their appearance. You should learn to love yourself because of what's inside, not what's outside," young Morgan's inconsolable mother told us.

Previous reports said the doctors in Belgrade discovered that their colleagues in Turkey damaged Morgan's small intestine. During the attempt to save her life in Belgrade, they had to remove 10 centimeters of it.

Unfortunately, Morgan suffered a heart attack on January 9, because of which she had to be put in an induced coma.

She died four days later.

Morgan's sister Kayleigh Ribeiro begged her not to go through with the surgery, which carries a number of complicated health risks.

Prior to the procedure, Morgan had a virtual consultation with the Turkish company in September 2023 before booking the surgery for January.

Her boyfriend James claims the hospital staff and interpreters who spoke to her failed to mention the risks associated with the operation before Morgan went under the knife.

After her surgery, as they were flying to London, James recalls that Morgan was running high fever, and was "in terrible pain."

(Telegraf.rs)