A New Zealand woman who traveled to Turkey to have surgery has now had her entire stomach removed, according to Radio New Zealand. The Turkish healthcare group that operated says she didn’t follow the post-op procedure, causing the issue.
According to reports, Helen Watson traveled to Istanbul, Turkey, in Sept. 2025 as a medical tourist for a gastric sleeve. This weight-loss surgery involves removing a large portion of the stomach to create a tube that helps with obesity and related health issues. Istanbul’s Medicana Health Group conducted the procedure.
Following her return to New Zealand, Watson’s health spiraled, leading to life-saving interventions for internal scarring and leaks that eventually necessitated the total removal of her stomach.
Living without a stomach — a condition called total gastrectomy — is possible, but it requires lifelong adaptations and medical management.
Medicana denies responsibility
Medicana has denied any fault or surgical error, asserting that the operation met international standards and that Watson had not followed post‑operative recommendations after returning home.
The clinic also contested that there was no evidence of intraoperative complications at discharge, meaning that during the surgery itself, the procedure appeared to have gone according to plan and no immediate problems were documented before Watson left the hospital.
Watson strongly disputes these claims, insisting she felt something was wrong immediately after surgery and that she did follow medical advice.
“I can say that even if she’d gone and eaten a cheeseburger after her [initial gastric sleeve] operation, it wouldn’t have caused the problems that I found during the surgery, which was scarring and lack of blood supply to the top of the stomach,” Watson’s surgeon at Palmerston North Hospital in New Zealand, Alexandra Gordon, told RNZ.
According to Gordon, the proximal — or the top part of Watson’s stomach — “had become very narrowed and scarred,” and showed signs of “abnormal narrowing. The leak had formed above that,” Gordon told the outlet.
Meanwhile, a large number of surgical clips that had been placed around the upper stomach, Gordon said, “which has suggested to me that they had potentially had bleeding during their operation,” in Istanbul.
“I don’t know what my body is going to do”
Watson is now pursuing compensation and a refund of her surgery and travel costs, though Medicana maintains it has no obligation to pay and has indicated legal resistance to her claims.
“I don’t know what my body is going to do and how well it’s going to heal or what other complications are going to arise later on. I may not be 100%,” Watson said after the total gastrectomy, The New Zealand Herald. reported.
“Medicana does not accept that there is evidence demonstrating surgical error. Medicana stands by the integrity of its surgical and post-operative processes,” said in part in a statement to The Herald.
Global medical tourism has surged, with an estimated 20 million patients crossing borders annually for procedures ranging from routine dental work to complex surgeries. Advantages include lower costs, shorter wait times, and access to advanced procedures. Drawbacks, however, include higher risks of complications, varying quality standards, limited follow-up care, and potential legal or ethical issues when outcomes go wrong, as Watson has alleged.
Published: Mar 10, 2026 03:33 pm