Medical Tourism and hidden dangers

One cannot overstate the need for saving money these days. The patients are more informed, capable of doing some research and could ask more questions and can make some choices. This newfound consumerism has its own effects on medical tourism. The patients were able to make more informed decisions, shop around and save money. Is that always true? Well,let's find out! The importance of quality control and its effect on surgical outcomes cannot be over emphasized. This is especially true with the medical tourism. Patients have no real way of knowing and the assessing the quality of surgery they are about to get. The information they get in the internet is just as good as the information that is posted.With the constant emergence of new antibiotics, it is safe to say, that surgeons are less worried about post surgical infections. But with this, we have a new problem. It is true that some surgery clinics are just depending on the antibiotics and ignoring the other important aspects of surgery. The following could be a revelation as reported by Mr. Bob Talasila, the president of World Medical and Surgical LLC in their bog."Recently, a Physician from USA has approached us for her cosmetic surgery. She was in need of a major revision surgery and wants to combine a couple of more surgeries at the same time in the operating room. Most of the reputed cosmetic surgeons we have contacted have recommended against it and one surgeon said that he might consider that, but only upon thorough physical evaluation. However, she did not choose us as the facilitator and ended up going to a small clinic in Dominican Republic. (She later conceded that she did that to save $900) She called us a month later and we were surprised to know that she has suffered few post surgical complications and needed an emergency surgery to treat post surgical infection upon return to America. The areas that did not have post surgical infection did not turn out good either. One of her breast has developed a deformity and now she is facing a series of expensive surgeries." If this could happen to a very highly educated medical professional, it happens to anyone of us. It is much more complicated than that. Hospitals with international accreditation s like JCI are generally a good indicator of quality- although this not an absolute. You can make a good start by choosing a medical facilitator who has healthcare background and places more value on ethics. Cost can be an important factor, but should not be the only determining factor. We need to take a broader picture into consideration. These include total possible cost vs. benefit, language barriers and their effect on health care delivery and the likelihood of post surgical outcomes based on the experience and the experience of the organization in treating foreign patients. The dedicated international departments are generally a good sign, but one should be aware of one-man armies.