The “heartbroken” family of a mum-of-three from Salford who they believe died after being injected with a black market ‘skinny jab’, has called for a crackdown on unlicensed weight loss drugs.
The family of Karen McGonigal say she died in May, just days after she was allegedly administered an unlicensed jab.
They told ITV news in an exclusive interview that the months before her death, Karen had been struggling with her mental health and was “desperate” to lose weight.
Her daughters say her self-esteem suffered when her long-term relationship ended, and she felt that being overweight was “ruining her life”.
“She didn’t feel happy in herself, she didn’t want to go out anywhere. I think she just wanted her old self back – she wanted to lose weight to get her confidence back,” said her daughter Abbie.
She was unable to get treatment on the NHS after visiting her GP so found the injections at her local beautician
Her youngest daughter, Ffion, told ITV News the beautician “stopped doing a woman’s nails” to take Karen into a back room where she was injected with a syringe.
“No preparation, no cleaning, nothing. She’d give it to my mum, my mum would pay her, and she’d be out in three minutes.”
Karen had started to lose weight, but four days after her last injection, she suddenly became unwell – in “agony” with severe stomach pains and was struggling to breathe.
She was rushed to hospital but after two days in intensive care, her daughters were told there was nothing more doctors could do to save her.
