Two friends planned weight loss surgeries in Mexico to save money. One backed out and the other - a mother of 3 - died on the operating table.

• A Mississippi woman who received stomach surgeries in Tijuana, Mexico died, WLOX reported.
• Markita McIntyre, 34, died while getting sleeve gastrectomy surgery, the report said.
• Millions of Americans travel overseas to undergo cheaper medical procedures.

A Mississippi woman died while getting sleeve gastrectomy surgery in Tijuana, Mexico, according to WLOX.

Markita McIntyre, who was supposed to get the surgery with her friend Francesca Moultrie, continued to go through with the procedure even after her friend decided not to.

"I talked to my friend throughout the entire process," Moultrie told WLOX. "We talked every day, and she was asking questions every day in the group, so she was very knowledgeable."

McIntyre, a mother of three, was supposed to check in with Moultrie following the surgery, but she never did, Moultrie told the outlet. McIntyre's husband notified her that she died.

"It was very devastating. I just want to be a voice for these women about surgeries," Moultrie told the news station. "Y'all are getting these surgeries, and they are not healthy, and they're not good for your body. Don't do it. It was a wake-up call."

As Insider previously reported, millions of Americans are flying overseas to undergo procedures for a lower price in a practice called medical tourism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued warnings about getting medical care in other countries due to the potential risks which can include low quality of care, exposure to infectious disease and highly drug-resistant bacteria, and a higher likelihood of blood clots from flying after surgery.

In 2019, the CDC said 11 people who received surgeries in Tijuana returned to the states with rare antibiotic-resistant infections, according to a CNN report.