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British woman dies while having butt implants removed

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Hospital bed. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
Hospital bed. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

A British woman died while undergoing cosmetic surgery in the Thai capital, police said on Friday.

Never woke up

The woman experienced complications from anaesthetics late on Thursday while undergoing an operation to remove gluteal implants she had received earlier.

"She never woke up after the anaesthetics were given to her intravenously," Police Colonel Chaliang Inthip said.

Her body was being sent for an autopsy to determine the actual cause of death, police said, adding that safety standards at the clinic would also be checked. South-East Asia has a large number of poorly-regulated, cheap clinics that offer cosmetic surgery to Westerners who cannot afford it back home.

Read: Would you get butt implants?

The NHS claims that the risk of dying from general anaesthesia is about 1 in 100 000; however a recent Time article suggested that these rates are back on the rise. This is due to a higher proportion of older people undergoing surgery. A recent German study found 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 are dead within a year of undergoing surgery.

The victim in this case was just 24 years old. The surgeon, however, was 51 and not qualified to undertake this kind of procedure. The Daily Mail reported that the surgeon, Dr. Sompob Saensiri, has been arrested by Thai Police following the death.

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