Fight Back Against Botched Surgery!

Patient 1
In December of 2008, my friend & I made the decision to travel abroad for our cosmetic surgery. We had read a lot about the clinic & spoken to a few co-ordinators in the UK who were representing the Polyclinique El Menzah & since No one had a bad word to say about them we chose that clinic of the two we wanted to go with & set the ball in motion to get a consultation.

We were both asked to get various tests done in the UK before leaving & get flights booked... So the countdown was on..

In March 2009 we both arrive in Tunisia, and were taken straight to clinic, fed & watered & left to sleep, next morning we saw the doctor, told him what we wanted, paid our money & set off to theatre.

Two days later released to a disgusting hovel of a hotel HOTEL YADIS in Tunis, we were not impressed and as a result went back to the clinic till Saturday, then moved to HOTEL PHEBUS. Then flew home from there after a brief hello at the clinic from one of the docs (a new kind of examination I guess).

My friend was healing well but I was still in a lot of pain, I emailed 3rd party & clinic many times but only got assistance from a 3rd party... then eventually response from clinic when they realise I'm still in pain and certainly not happy with the outcome.

In May 2009, off I go, very hesitantly back to the clinic to get problem corrected, only to be met with more alarming results. I had made it very clear what I wanted & again repeated the same as I had said on 1st visit. So after a lot of hopping from one trolley to another, I find myself in the theatre & wide awake (having previously been put to sleep in my room), it was a tiny little room with only about 2-3ft each side around me as I lay on the table... then I'm asleep.

I woke in my room, all bandaged and sticky taped but tried to rest, knowing only 24hrs of this tape..... wrong... it was 48hrs later when some one realised i was still alive and needed dressings removed.. disaster 2 strikes... I'm allergic to the sticky tape so needed extra treatment for that. Disaster 1 had started as soon as i arrived & never improved the whole time i was there.. the food was totally not edible as I'm allergic to lemon/citrus.

On arriving home, still a lot of pain, but kept wounds clean & dry as ordered. Then came 1st post-op shower at home.... Disaster 3 starts........ my wound has burst open and blood and pus oozing out & i cant stop it, panic stricken, I'm straight to my GP... nasty infection & treatment starts, the 1st of my daily treks to docs/nurse/hospital.

I email clinic & 3rd party.. clinic not interested, and say its normal, i get phone calls saying i shouldn't have sought help, come back.

Devastation is understatement, as my condition worsens & i end up in an ambulance and on way to hospital, then transferred to another hospital under the care of a surgeon..who at that exact moment in time is unable to do anything except give advice.

So now we are 5 wks on from operation, with 3 of those wks having an open infected wound-which is still open now, so i continue my treks for medical assistance, rest up as told & hope at some point the wound will heal.

I may well need further surgery to correct this mess, but it's definitely going to be a very long road to recovery as it now appears.

Non dissolvable stitches were used inside of me and are showing through the skin & skin will need to be broken to remove. There is more infection risk as well have more than 1 open wound to contend with.

I'm in constant pain & discomfort, depressed & can't sleep and i sit here wondering if it will ever go away & allow me to get my life back on track. I've gone from a bubbly outgoing mum to a quiet & depressed person, that just wants to stop others having to go through this & wants the CLINIC EL MENZAH to accept liability & get properly trained & qualified surgeons doing only what they specialise in... not fill in as when needed just to make a few extra pounds.

I know there are other people going through the same thing, if not worse than I am from the very same clinic and meeting more with every passing week who have also gone through similar circumstances with other clinics like this.
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UPDATE
Ive had 2 revision surgeries here in the UK costing thousands of pounds,several nights in a clinic & major chest/breast/scar revision & reconstruction & implant replacements,over a period of months.
Painkillers & antibiotics are a longterm fixture in my life as well.
Im now on a long road to recovery with more trips still needed to the UK surgeon till i am totally fixed & healed.

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