Tragedy struck in Istanbul after Ana Bárbara Buhr Buldrini, a 31-year-old influencer from Mozambique, died of cardiac arrest following a series of cosmetic procedures—just hours after reportedly partying with her surgeon.
Buldrini had traveled to Turkey last Friday with her husband, Elgar Miles, to undergo multiple plastic surgeries at Tusa Hospital in exchange for promoting the clinic on social media. According to local outlet O Tempo, the procedures included a breast augmentation, liposuction, and a rhinoplasty.
“She wanted to undergo these procedures to improve her aesthetic standards. It was a dream of hers,” Miles said, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The couple, who had recently married, initially requested to postpone the surgery—originally scheduled for Wednesday—to allow Buldrini an extra day to recover. However, Miles said the surgeon advanced the date to Sunday due to scheduling conflicts.
“We went to the clinic on Sunday just to see the place, but the doctor wanted to perform the procedure without Ana being prepared,” Miles recalled. He added that the decision came shortly after the couple had spent the night socializing with the surgeon.
“The doctor assured me that there were no problems and that everything would be fine,” he told local outlet G1.
Buldrini, who had nearly 800,000 Instagram followers and often posted videos of herself singing, went into surgery Sunday and was reportedly out of the operating room by 11 p.m. Miles said he received a photo showing her in recovery and was told she remained under anesthesia.
“They told me to go to the room, the assistants were acting strangely. I waited for 1 hour and 15 minutes to receive her,” he recounted. Later, doctors informed him of her passing.
“I went down to the ground floor and a doctor said that her heart was beating slowly, another said that she was already dead.”
The doctors involved were initially detained by authorities but have since been released.
Tusa Hospital denied any wrongdoing, stating that medical staff made all efforts to revive Buldrini.
“Despite all efforts by our expert anesthesiology team, the patient could not be resuscitated,” the hospital said in a statement obtained by Turkiye Today, adding that they are fully cooperating with the investigation.
