We have recently talked about the excessive risk taking by American patients. May be we can learn a few lessons from international medical tourists. There have been patients venturing for medical tourism routinely for major medical procedures from Africa and Middle East. They normally don't take the same risk as a typical american Medical Tourism patient. They know that they are going there for a purpose. They are aware that they are not going shopping at flea market. Naturally their outcomes are better.
In general, the American patient is well educated, knowledgeable and assertive compared to the patients discussed above. These patients also typically shop a lot over the internet. Is the amazon.com culture blinding them and hampering their judgement? We recently have a physician as a client from a major city of eastern USA. She had a blotched tummy tuck from a previous surgery. She was all set up for the procedure with a JCI accredited hospital for a tummy tuck and breast job, but she ultimately decided to go to a nameless hospital in Dominican Republic. This was supposed to save her about $1,000.00. We have tried to explain her the difference, but upon her insistence, we wished her all the best. We did not facilitate that surgery. We don't want to mention the name of the other company.
We got a call from her approximately after 3 months. We were shocked to learn what has happened. The surgery is a total failure. She had a serious post surgical infection after her breast augmentation and lost some significant amount of tissue as a result. She has spent over $40,000 just for the hospital. Now she is facing multiple surgeries to gain a near normal look. Her case has reinforced our belief not to engage in such practices. if this can happen to a smart physician, think about the fate of a normal patient!!
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