Ethical Issues in Medical Tourism From business to leisure purposes, traveling abroad has been increasing steadily, estimating that about 106 million people in the United States (US) traveled abroad for various purposes in 2015 (“Monthly Departures to International Destinations,” n.d.). A relatively new industry, medical tourism, has become one of the drivers that continues to increase the number of US residents to travel abroad. Medical tourism can be simply defined as traveling abroad for medical or surgical treatment, but there are many different reasons that influence US residents to seek medical tourism for treatments such as all forms of elective surgeries, cosmetic surgeries, organ transplantation, and other treatments like infertility
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2). Additionally, “home countries” or “developed countries” will be used interchangeably to refer to the countries where medical tourists originate, and the countries where medical tourists travel to receive medical care will be interchangeably referred to as “host countries” or “developing countries.” This paper will examine ethical issues on medical tourism that entail traveling abroad for low-cost treatments with easy …show more content…
However, there are risks of medical tourism, for both medical tourists and host countries, to take into consideration. Some of the risks indicated for medical tourisms are difference in standard of care, accuracy of medical records, lack of opportunities for follow-up care, language barriers, and increase in health care cost in the host country (Plonien & Baldwin, 2014, p. 432). The foremost risks that patients get expose to are complications from treatments. Complications may manifest when the patients have go back to their home countries, and it would be difficult for them to receive follow-up care from their health care providers because they do not have adequate information about the treatments that the patients received in the host countries. In addition, the patients who received treatments abroad are at high risk for developing blood clots and pulmonary emboli due to long flight back home, which will generate additional cost to their health care budgets (Plonien & Baldwin, 2014, p.
2). Additionally, “home countries” or “developed countries” will be used interchangeably to refer to the countries where medical tourists originate, and the countries where medical tourists travel to receive medical care will be interchangeably referred to as “host countries” or “developing countries.” This paper will examine ethical issues on medical tourism that entail traveling abroad for low-cost treatments with easy …show more content…
However, there are risks of medical tourism, for both medical tourists and host countries, to take into consideration. Some of the risks indicated for medical tourisms are difference in standard of care, accuracy of medical records, lack of opportunities for follow-up care, language barriers, and increase in health care cost in the host country (Plonien & Baldwin, 2014, p. 432). The foremost risks that patients get expose to are complications from treatments. Complications may manifest when the patients have go back to their home countries, and it would be difficult for them to receive follow-up care from their health care providers because they do not have adequate information about the treatments that the patients received in the host countries. In addition, the patients who received treatments abroad are at high risk for developing blood clots and pulmonary emboli due to long flight back home, which will generate additional cost to their health care budgets (Plonien & Baldwin, 2014, p.