Mother died after having two cosmetic surgeries on the same day, inquest told

THE mother of a beauty therapist who died following breast enlargement and tummy tuck surgery told an inquest that her daughter was advised she could have both procedures “at the same time as it would be cheaper”.

Louise Harvey (36), of Norwich, died on July 5, 2018 after undergoing the operations in London on June 17, 2018.

A post-mortem examination recorded that the mother of three died of a bilateral pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that occurs in the lungs.

Secondary causes were recorded as breast augmentation and abdominoplasty, the medical term for a tummy tuck.

Her mother Linda Harvey (53) said her family had a history of blood clots. She said that her daughter was sent home without blood thinners, yesterday’s inquest in Norwich heard.

In a statement read by Norfolk’s area coroner Yvonne Blake, Linda Harvey said that her daughter wanted a tummy tuck as “she felt she had some loose skin around her belly following the birth of her youngest son”. Miss Harvey’s three-hour surgery was completed on June 17, 2018 and she went home on June 19.

At an outpatient appointment in Norwich on June 26, Miss Harvey was advised that the “stitches were okay” and “she was healing well”, her mother said.

But an ambulance was called and she was taken to hospital on July 3 after she collapsed and started fitting, her mother said.

“Louise’s organs were giving up,” her mother said.

“She had blood clots in her heart and lungs.”

She said on July 4, Miss Harvey was able to talk, asked where she was and if her sons could visit her. She died on July 5.

Consultant plastic surgeon Manish Sinha, who performed the operations on Miss Harvey at Transform Riverside Hospital, which has since closed, was questioned by Ms Blake.

She asked: “When you saw Louise and you discussed the risks of any surgery, were you aware of her family history, her sister having had a clot and her grandmother?” “Noma’am,Iwasnot,”hesaid. He said it was not his usual practice to read a pre-assessment form completed by a patient with a nurse, in which Miss Harvey’s family history of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) was recorded, “unless specific things have been flagged up to me”.

The inquest heard that Miss Harvey was administered a dose of blood thinners after surgery but that a second prescribed dose was not administered.

Nurse Rebecca Greedy said, in a statement read by Ms Blake, that she saw Miss Harvey for an hour-long pre-operative screening appointment on May 17, 2018.

She said Miss Harvey told her that her sister had suffered a blood clot during pregnancy and her grandmother suffered a clot following lower limb surgery.

She said this did not “raise red flags” with her, noting that Miss Harvey had been through three pregnancies “without any such issues” and had previously had breast enlargement surgery.

The inquest continues.