Mom Died After Taking $26 Weight-Loss Injections from Beauty Salon, Daughters Say: ‘The Outcome Is Not Worth It’
A British woman’s daughters are speaking out after their mother reportedly died after being injected with $26 unlicensed weight loss medication.
Karen McGonigal, 53 — a mother of three from Salford in the north of England — died in May, just days after she was allegedly illegally administered a dose of the weight management jab semaglutide, U.K. outlet ITV News reported.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Semaglutide is a weekly injection you take to lose weight. It’s for adults with obesity or overweight. Common side effects include nausea and digestive issues.”
Karen’s daughters, Abbie and Ffion McGonigal, told ITV News that their mom had taken the injections after her self-esteem was suffering following the end of a long-term relationship.
“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,” Abbie told ITV News.
Karen had been advised by friends that weight loss injections were available to buy at a local beauty salon, which hasn’t been named, after she was told she couldn’t get the medication on the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS), ITV News reported.
The outlet claimed it had seen text messages sent by the local beautician offering the jabs for £20 (around $26) each. ITV News reported that the jabs are only meant to be administered legally and safely with a prescription from a healthcare professional.
Ffion, 25, told the outlet that the beautician in question “stopped doing a woman’s nails” to inject her mom in a back room. Karen had visited the salon a number of times before her death, per the outlet.
“No preparation, no cleaning, nothing. She’d give it to my [mom], my [mom] would pay her, and she’d be out in three minutes,” F said.
Karen was starting to lose weight, but fell ill four days after her last injection, complaining she was in “agony” with severe stomach pains and had been struggling to breathe, ITV News reported. Ffion said her mom’s face turned “purple” before she called an ambulance.
Karen — a grandmother of four, soon to be five — spent two days in the ICU, before her daughters were told that medics couldn’t do anything to save her and her life support machine was switched off, per the outlet.
PEOPLE understands that Greater Manchester Police have arrested one person on charges of administering a noxious substance and manslaughter, and a second on a charge of supplying a controlled substance amid the ongoing investigation.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, Andy Morling, the Deputy Director of Criminal Enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said, “My thoughts are with Karen McGonigal’s family following her tragic death.”
“Buying any medicine from illegal online suppliers significantly increases the risk of receiving falsified or unlicensed products,” the statement continued in part. “We work closely with law enforcement partners, customs authorities, social media and online platforms to remove illegal medicines from sale, block harmful websites, disrupt payment routes, and delist offending domains from search engines.”
“Where breaches of the law are identified in the UK, we will not hesitate to use the full range of our enforcement powers to protect public health, including, where appropriate, prosecuting those who put people at risk,” the statement concluded.
Karen’s daughters, Abbie and Ffion, are now urging others to be aware of the dangers of fake “skinny jabs,” according to ITV News. They believe the weight loss injections were to blame for their mother’s death.
“If this saves another person … Or saves another person going through what we feel – then we’ve done enough,” Abbie told the outlet, warning anybody who might be considering taking the “cheaper option,” “The outcome is devastating. It’s heartbreaking and it’s really, really not worth it.”
Karen’s daughters said their mom “lived for her kids and grandkids.”
“She had the biggest heart and would do anything for anybody,” Abbie told ITV News, sharing, “If she was your friend – you were lucky.”
U.K. Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, told ITV News of Karen’s case, “My heart goes out to Karen’s family after just such a shocking and avoidable loss.”
“My message to the public is that whilst weight loss jabs and can be really helpful to tackle obesity and there’s lots of evidence to support it, people must seek medical advice from regulated medical providers before taking this medication, and if people are seeing it for sale on the black market, they should report it,” he added.
Streeting did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. PEOPLE has also reached out to Ffion McGonigal.
Earlier this year, PEOPLE reported that an Annals of Internal Medicine study published on April 8 noted that semaglutide had contributed to nearly 25,000 emergency room visits between 2022 and 2023.
Semaglutide — known by brand names Ozempic and Wegovy — works in the brain to impact satiety.
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Most reported hospital visits were due to gastrointestinal complications after patients took the FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes and chronic obesity.
A spokesperson for Ozempic’s manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, told PEOPLE in a statement in May, “The safety and efficacy profile of Ozempic has been evaluated in clinical studies involving more than patients. The most commonly reported side effects were gastrointestinal, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation. The known risks associated with use of Ozempic are reflected in the FDA-approved product labeling.”