Beauty therapist died of a blood clot 17 days after cosmetic surgery

Louise Harvey, 36, paid £7,000 to have a tummy tuck and breast enhancement. She is pictured before last June’s cosmetic surgery

A beauty therapist who died of a blood clot after cosmetic surgery was not given medication which may have prevented her death, it emerged today.

Louise Harvey, 36, paid £7,000 to have a tummy tuck and breast enhancement done at the same time in a three-hour operation at a private London hospital.

The mother-of-three, who had a history of blood clots in her family, died 17 days later from the complication after collapsing at her home in Norwich.

A pre-inquest hearing today at Norfolk Coroner’s Court was told she had not been given anti-coagulant blood thinning drugs to prevent clots to take home after surgery on June 17 last year.

Miss Harvey had been prescribed one dose of an anticoagulant drug during her two-day stay in the hospital run by top UK cosmetic surgery firm Transform.

But there was a delay in her receiving it and a prescription for a second dose was also not administered, the court heard.

Norfolk Area coroner Yvonne Blake questioned why she had not been given the drugs to take home when her sister and grandmother had each suffered deep vein thrombosis due to blood clots in the past.

Miss Harvey, who had a history of blood clots in her family, died from the complication

Miss Harvey died on July 5

Miss Harvey, who had a history of blood clots in her family, died from the complication. She is pictured before the surgery

Miss Harvey, who died on July 5, had revealed her family history of DVT during an assessment she underwent before her surgery.

Ms Blake said she wanted to know the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for prescribing anticoagulant drugs after cosmetic surgery.

She also asked for Transform to describe its protocol on giving the drugs. Ms Blake suggested it was ‘quite risky’ for Miss Harvey not to have been prescribed them.

Miss Harvey, pictured before the surgery, had revealed her family history of DVT during an assessment she underwent

Miss Harvey, pictured before the surgery, had revealed her family history of DVT during an assessment she underwent

She added: ‘My concern is that these protocols may be adequate for an average patient who tends to be youngish.

‘But because of her family history with DVT, doesn’t that make her out of the range of the average patient? She was out for three hours having multiple procedures.’

Ms Blake suggested that it may have been more appropriate for Miss Harvey to have the drugs due to her tummy tuck which would have reduced her mobility while she recovered, making a blood clot more likely.

The procedure known as an abdominoplasty involved removing excess fat from abdomen.

Ms Blake said: ‘Having a tummy tuck would make you less inclined to move about than you would just with breast augmentation. My concern is that the family history was not taken into account.’

She said she wanted the full inquest hearing to examine the potential ‘lack of scrutiny’ of Miss Harvey’s family history of DVT as well as her post-operative care.

Chris Mellor, representing Transform, said that guidelines about the prescribing of anticoagulant drugs were not firm rules.

He added: ‘Whilst there are guidelines, they are not necessarily guidelines that apply to this particular type of surgery.’

Miss Harvey had been prescribed an anticoagulant drug during a two-day stay in the hospital

The company has improved its protocols since Miss Harvey's death, the court was told

Miss Harvey, pictured before the surgery, had been prescribed an anticoagulant drug during a two-day stay in the hospital

Mr Mellor added that the clinic had a video which showed Miss Harvey being mobile as she was discharged. 

But he also claimed that the company had improved its protocols since Miss Harvey’s death.

The hearing was also told how the doctor operating on Miss Harvey had originally planned to use a heated diathermy medical tool during the procedure.

But he found the equipment was faulty during an earlier operation on another patient and instead resorted to liposuction treatment.

The inquest was adjourned for a full hearing which is likely to take up to four days on dates to be fixed.

The earlier opening of the inquest gave Miss Harvey’s cause of death as bilateral pulmonary embolism secondary to breast augmentation and abdominoplasty.

Mrs Blake said at the earlier hearing that she had undergone surgery to ‘improve her appearance’.

The pre-inquest hearing took place at Norfolk Coroner's Court in Norwich (pictured today)

The pre-inquest hearing took place at Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich (pictured today)

Lawyer Tim Deeming, who is acting for Miss Harvey’s family, said after today’s hearing: ‘We just want full and complete answers to explain how prescription errors took place and what Transform have done to ensure lessons have been learned.’

A Transform spokesperson said: ‘We at Transform have been deeply saddened by the death of Ms Harvey. 

‘While we can’t comment on the specifics of the hearing, we can confirm that we are fully committed to supporting the ongoing inquiry. 

‘As part of this we have undertaken a full internal investigation, which has been shared with the Coroner and other relevant authorities.

‘Our thoughts and sincere condolences are with the patient’s family at this time.’  

Miss Harvey’s three children Kayleigh-Anne, 19, Owen, 11, and Jaxon, six, are now being looked after by her mother Lyn Harvey.

Ms Harvey, 52, described her daughter last November as ‘a hard-working, brilliant mum.’ 

She added: ‘Vain is the last thing she was. She didn’t even believe she was good-looking. She didn’t have one mirror in her house.’

Miss Harvey’s friend Mark Hutson who set up a JustGiving page to raise money for her children, said: ‘It’s been a shock to us all that this beautiful, young devoted mother-of-three has been taken away from us so early and without warning when she had so much to live for.’

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