Written for people living in Spain
Over the past few years we have seen a steady rise in enquiries from Spain. Rhinoplasty and hair transplants lead, dental packages follow, and bariatric surgery is growing. The pattern is familiar: a package bought online, a few days abroad, a flight home, and then a problem that the clinic manages by WhatsApp until it stops answering.
This guide is for you if you live in Spain and are weighing whether to do anything about it. Everything below applies whether you are in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or a village in Extremadura; the only difference is which consulate is closest.
We speak Spanish. The first conversation, and every conversation after it, can be in Spanish. The court file is in Turkish, and we translate the parts that matter before you decide anything.
A composite example, details changed. A hairdresser from Málaga had a rhinoplasty booked through an Instagram agency. Within three months she had a visible collapse on one side and could not breathe through it. Her otorrinolaringólogo in the public system wrote a two-page informe on the first visit, with a CT. That report did more for her file than any amount of correspondence with the agency, which by then had changed its name.
The steps, from Spain
You do not travel for any of the early steps. The review, the collection of records, the medical opinion and the negotiation all happen with you at home. For court proceedings, your lawyer represents you at hearings. The one exception, an expert body wanting to examine you in person, is rare, is flagged early, and can usually be met with a specialist report from Spain or a short planned visit.
The power of attorney: consulate or notario
To act for you, a lawyer needs a power of attorney. From Spain there are two routes.
The consular route produces the document in the form Turkish courts expect, in one visit. The notary route uses any notario near you; the document then receives an apostille, which for notarial documents in Spain is issued through the Colegio Notarial, and a sworn translation into Turkish. We send the exact wording either way, and nothing is signed before the written terms are agreed.
What your informe médico has to say
The most persuasive document in a Spanish file is almost always a dated report from an independent specialist in Spain. The public system produces excellent reports if you ask for the right thing. So do private specialists.
Ask for an informe médico detallado, not a sick note. If imaging was taken, ask for the images themselves, not only the written description. If the specialist says "this should never have been done", ask them, politely, to write exactly that.
A practical note: if the complication needed emergency care in Spain, the hospital's parte de urgencias and discharge report fix the date and the diagnosis. Keep them.
Costs, in writing, before you decide
Claims involve several kinds of cost: the lawyer's fee, court fees, expert fees, and translation between Spanish and Turkish. The structure depends on the case, and it is set out in writing before you commit, together with what happens if the claim does not succeed. Amounts in Spanish files are often meaningful: corrective surgery in Spain, lost work, travel, and non-material damage all form part of a claim, and a Spanish quotation for corrective treatment is the usual way of putting a figure on the first of those.
How long you have
Limitation periods depend on the legal basis of the claim and can be shorter than people expect. Two years is the figure most often relevant in practice, and it can start earlier than you think. Writing to the clinic does not pause it. A clinic promising a free revision does not pause it. We explain the usual figures, and why none of them should be relied on without asking, in our guide to how long you have. Send the dates first; everything else can follow.
What changed in 2026
International patients undergoing surgical and interventional procedures are now required to be covered by complication insurance under a regulation published in April 2025, with enforcement reported from January 2026 (Hürriyet Daily News). If your treatment was recent, tell us the date. A policy may exist in the background, and insurance deadlines are shorter than limitation periods.
Questions we hear from Spain
Can I claim in a Spanish court instead?
In most cases the claim is brought where the treatment took place, against the provider there, and enforcing a Spanish judgment against a clinic abroad is rarely practical. We will tell you honestly if your facts are an exception.
My Spanish insurer refused to cover the corrective treatment. Does that affect the claim?
No, but keep the refusal letter. What you had to pay yourself is part of the loss.
I booked through an agency in Spain. Can they be held responsible?
Sometimes. Keep the agency's contract, the advertisement you saw, and every message. Who promised what, and who took the money, are questions we look at together.
Next step
Describe what was done, when, and what your doctor in Spain has found, through the case review form in Spanish. Send the records only through the secure link we provide afterwards.
