An examiner who went to Turkey for weight loss surgery bled to death after the operation went wrong, an inquest has heard.

Mother-of-two Janet Lynne Savage, from Bangor in Gwynedd, suffered damage to one of her main arteries during the procedure, going into cardiac arrest.

Despite the efforts of emergency teams at Antalya Hospital, she died in the intensive care unit on August 6, 2023.

The hearing in Caernarfon recorded a narrative conclusion, finding that she died from acute blood loss during gastric sleeve surgery.

The inquest was told Ms Savage contacted a medical travel firm called Regenesis Health Travel in early July 2023 and within 24 hours booked herself in for surgery a month later in Turkey.

She told the health travel company that she had already taken the weight loss drug Ozempic, but she no longer had access to it and was worried she was gaining weight quickly.

She said she wanted to lose three stone (19kg) and told Regenesis Health Travel her body mass index (BMI) was 30.7.

According to the NHS, the index measures what is a healthy weight for your height and would have placed Ms Savage right at the top of the obesity range, which ranges from 30 to 30.9.

Alison Ergun, a customer service officer for Regenesis, said he was called on the day of the surgery.

“There was a complication and he stopped breathing within the first few minutes of surgery,” she said in a statement.

Chief Coroner for North West Wales Kate Robertson said translated notes from the surgeon, Dr Ramazan Azar, described how there was a 3-4mm “defect” in the aorta when the operation began, leading to bleeding.

He said the aorta was repaired by the surgical team and the gastric sleeve procedure was canceled due to complications.

However, doctors in the intensive care unit were unable to find a pulse and Mrs Savage was pronounced dead in the early hours of the morning.

The coroner said he ordered a post-mortem examination when Ms Savage’s body was repatriated to Wales, which was carried out at Glan Clwyd Hospital.

Pathologist Muhammad Aslam reported that the cause of death was due to acute bleeding from the abdominal aorta, which had been repaired.

The coroner sent his condolences to Ms Savage’s family.