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tially costing his business hundreds of thousands in damages.
But rules are much more relaxed in Turkey, meaning he’s unlikely ever to face justice and is free to keep practising.
The surgery involves fat being injected into the buttocks from elsewhere in the body. It has rocketed in popularity – the number of ops carried out worldwide is said to have doubled since 2013.
But thousands of Brits like Leah chose to go abroad because it can cost up to £8,000 in the UK.
Leah reportedly paid around £5,000 for the procedure via a British company called Elite Aftercare, which also arranged accommodation and transfers.
It has stopped trading but Dr Uckan told us his office now arranges the ops directly with patients. I answered a medical questionnaire and sent it to Dr Uckan’s clinic. Within 18 minutes, I received a reply saying Dr Uckan had deemed me “suitable” for the procedure.
I’m a size 10 but, in a supposedly personalised quote, he said: “I advise she opts for the maximum package, taking into account the amount of fat she has.”
I asked if I could have a consultation before committing to the operation and the clinic agreed – at a cost of £50.
But within minutes of meeting Dr Uckan, it was obvious he’d never seen any of the medical information I’d sent.
He said: “Did you send an email? I was not informed of any details.”
When I asked about the risk of death, he admitted the surgery had killed Leah. But he then boasted he’d performed the same op that morning – on a nurse who’d been in theatre when Leah died.
He didn’t tell us about a raft of worrying reviews left online from other patients who claimed to have been left with potentially deadly infections after he’d operated on them. Some said they hadn’t received aftercare and had been forced to go to other doctors to have the damage corrected.
Instead, he scrolled through Instagram to show me the British reality stars he claimed he’d operated on. In the UK, this would be a breach of strict patient confidentiality rules.
But, in an incredible rant, Dr Uckan moaned that he’d only been criticised for
Leah’s death because of his celebrity clientele. He said: “It was bad for me because I was famous and the magazines and newspapers and everyone focused on me. But after that, four or five women died but no newspapers wrote anything about them, it was all me.”
Leah’s family said she’d become “paranoid” about her figure after having her three kids – and had saved for the op despite her partner Scott Franks, 32, saying she was beautiful.
And after examining me, Dr Uckan told me I had a “masculine” body shape, which I couldn’t change via diet or exercise. He said: “You need a smaller waist. There is nothing you can do by diet or workouts, because this is your genetics.”
He tried to reassure me by adding: “Your skin quality is good, I will have no problems.”
In its email, his office told me the procedure would cost £3,500, but during my appointment he said he could do it for the reduced rate as part of a January sale. He said: “We are going to get back to normal prices by February. You can book in January and have it in March or April or whenever you want.” I asked to see the consent form after reading claims that Leah was asked to sign a 36-page document – some of which was in Turkish – just after getting off an overnight flight. Dr Uckan said he’d email me. I still haven’t seen it.
He said: “It is in English, not Turkish. I am going to send you all of the informed consent forms so you can read and then sign. I just don’t want to scare you.” Leah’s devastated partner Scott said the information she had been given hadn’t mentioned the surgery risks. He said she would “never, ever have gone if she’d known the risk of death was one in 3,000 – for her sake, for her family’s sake and the kids’ sake.”
He added: “I’d say to other women thinking of having the same surgery – don’t do it.”
Dr Uckan said: “I have never hidden the death of Ms Cambridge. I have sent a reply to the coroner’s office, about all the questions being asked.
“I have never provided aftercare. Unsatisfactory results, infections and other complications are part of every surgery.”
You can’t get smaller waist by diet or gym DR UCKAN ON REASONS GERALDINE NEEDED OP