{"id":586,"date":"2011-03-29T16:47:40","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T16:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drprem.com\/initiative\/2011\/03\/29\/re-dr-prems-medical-tourism-guide-book-chapter-7\/"},"modified":"2020-07-30T09:12:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T03:42:58","slug":"re-dr-prems-medical-tourism-guide-book-chapter-7-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drprem.com\/medical-tourism\/re-dr-prems-medical-tourism-guide-book-chapter-7-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How things could go wrong in medical tourism – A guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you are contemplating medical tourism<\/strong>, it would be prudent to discuss few realistic scenarios of what could possibly go wrong during medical travel. Issues related to post-operative care and complications arising are very\u00a0 common within medical tourism.Several cases have been reported where patients require more post-operative care<\/a> than anticipated. In some cases, doctors refuse to correct surgical errors resulting in the patient returning home without any post-operative fixes. While in other cases, patients find that the post-operative care required for a full recovery is unavailable in their home country or too expensive.<\/p>\n

If you seek any medical treatment in your home country or abroad, the possibility of problems and risks remains. Therefore, possibility of risk isn\u2019t new to anyone of us who is in need of a treatment. However, the dangers and possibility of any complications increase to a greater level, particularly when one seeks medical treatment in foreign country. The patient even considers these things at times especially when it comes with a logic as strong as that you are in a land that you know nothing about.<\/span><\/p>\n

More post-operative care than anticipated\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

E<\/span>very surgery has a certain amount of risk \u2013 be it in your home country or in a medical tourism destination<\/a> abroad. Sometimes, the best doctors make mistakes or things go wrong even when the medical tourism destination provides utmost care and takes best precautions to treat every patient. No matter what your reason for the medical travel is, there always remains a firm need for more postoperative care at medical tourism destinations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The incidents of patients not reacting well to the anesthetic dose something unexpected happening during a surgery are some of the risks that one might experience. However, this isn\u2019t something that couldn\u2019t happen in a native country. The only thing is that it adds more to the woes if it happens in a country that is very new to the medical tourists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doctor\/s refusing to correct surgical errors<\/b><\/p>\n

Patients might have to face troubles and\/or end up paying more if the doctors at any foreign destination refuse to correct any error in treatment or in a surgery for different reasons. The doctors might refuse to correct any surgical error for the simple reason that it asks them to put in more effort and devote extra time that they otherwise could utilize to earn more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the prime concern for every patient who intends to seek healthcare abroad is \u2018what if something goes wrong\u2019 and rightly so. There are many cases of cosmetic surgeries going wrong and patients traveling back to their home country without any fixes for the medical errors. As a result, many patients decide against traveling abroad owing to this reason alone.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Correcting any error in treatment or in surgery is the moral responsibility of doctors and the medical facility that entertains medical tourists. In any such case, getting surgical or other treatment errors fixed with no extra cost involved should be the (legal and moral) right of the patients. To encourage more and more people to opt for the medical tourism, all the destinations and countries involved should answer this prime concern to satisfy every potential medical tourist and thereby, encouraging them not to decide against traveling overseas to seek healthcare.<\/span><\/p>\n

Corrective surgery and postoperative care is mostly unavailable or more expensive in home country<\/b><\/p>\n

Once you complete the medical procedure overseas and return home after the postoperative period is over, finding adequate and right care in home country would not be easy or economical. It might happen that the home country of the patient isn\u2019t <\/span>suitable owing to lack of infrastructure or too high costs involved to handle any post treatment complications. This situation will leave the medical tourist with no other option than to travel again to the same country where the treatment was done earlier. Moreover, the idea of patients traveling back to medical tourist destinations to remediate postoperative complications does not make any sense either.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lack of recourse for patients\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Legal framework of a country differs (sometimes considerably) from another and so does the process of addressing the grievances of patients, if any. It might happen that a patient finds the legal system of a country inept or inapt to serve his\/her interests. For example, in US, there are strict rules, regulations and guidelines to hospitals about protecting the rights of patients. However, the same level of legal protection is not available in <\/span>countries like India,<\/span> Philippines, China or any other medical tourist destination country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, seeking legal remedies against any medical mishap happening in a foreign country might not be just expensive but cumbersome too. It will come out to be an additional burden on a patient. In such a situation, the country seems a no man\u2019s land for the patient where finding the right legal protection against any medical error is not only difficult but also expensive and time consuming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The things come out to be even more difficult for a patient when he\/she has to return home without any legal justice delivered to him or her. In some cases, the legal system of the patient\u2019s home country has no legal provision for providing justice against the negligence of the medical team of the treating facility on a foreign land. It is imperative to have a knowledge on legal issues in medical tourism<\/a> to get yourself prepared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cultural and linguistic barriers\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

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Usually, a medical tourist hails from a different cultural background to that of the destination country. This thing is more prevalent for medical tourists traveling from Middle East countries to the US or Asian countries that are coming up as cheap medical tourist destinations. The language and cultural barriers prove nothing less than a traumatic experience for a patient. How to address this cultural issue<\/a>?\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Medical tourism destinations are trying their best to relieve this trauma. As many medical tourism experts opine, understanding culture is a one-way process. The need to understand the culture of the patients and their beliefs and behavior is important for the medical tourism destinations. This doesn\u2019t mean that a patient has no need to understand the culture and behavior of the destination.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to mitigate the borders in Medical Tourism, it is the responsibility of the provider to make cultural documents related to their destination available to the patients. The reasons why patients and the healthcare provider need cultural understanding is to minimize gaps for better outcome, avoid miscommunication arising from cultural differences, build awareness, and increase positive results for the higher satisfaction rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contacting tropical diseases<\/a> or post-operative infections when abroad\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

We have seen that prime medical tourist destinations (or countries) are located on some exotic locations all over the world for the simple reason to combine travel with healthcare in a better way. However, there is also another side to this thing as well. The prime medical tourist destinations on exotic locations can have tropical or foreign diseases running rampant within that specific area, region or the entire country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The local populace within that particular region might have natural inborn immunity to such diseases. However, this could make things worse for a foreign tourist and therefore, they become more prone to contacting such infections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the surgery or a treatment is over, the immune system of the patient goes weak during the recovery period. Consequently, the immune system would not be able to withstand any viral attack or other infections. As a result, a medical tourist needs to be extra careful against contracting any infection. Though the medical tourism facilities<\/a> take extra care of hygiene, yet you should know and take precautions well in advance against contracting hospital-acquired infections that are common in many countries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Possibilities of natural and manmade calamities\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

No one, on the other hand, can rule out the possibilities of natural disasters or manmade calamities hitting the destination country during the travel. Unforeseen events, dubbed as natural disasters, can put uncertainties about patients reaching their destination facilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from natural disasters, manmade calamities like terrorist attacks, political unrest and other upheavals might leave you stranded in the host country, leaving you with no other choice but to wait and watch until the whole thing is solved or gets clear. To know about the natural disasters in advance is difficult, but one can avoid traveling to a country for medical purposes where there are signs of some political unrest\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Undesirable results\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Undesirable results aren\u2019t all that unexpected<\/a> for anyone who seeks medical care back at home or in a foreign country. Therefore, the chances of things going haywire are as high at a medical tourist destination as in the home country. The medical tourist should know about this thing and be mentally prepared to face such a situation. Medical tourists need to take certain precautions in advance to face such a situation overseas.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, you should be aware of the exaggerated promises and miracle treatments that physicians promise you through mail or other means. They might come up with patients\u2019 miracle postoperative pictures. If you have a family doctor or you know one related to the field, you should confirm well in advance whether the claims are real or simply overstated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Medical malpractices\/wrongdoings<\/b><\/p>\n

Medical malpractices can be of varied forms \u2013 ranging from mistakes committed by surgeons to organ trafficking, using fake credentials and failing to do what the concerned surgeon has initially promised. In addition to this, things might go even worse if the treating physician has no related degrees. Faking medical credentials to earn more and more money is another thing. This at times results in a catastrophic situation for the patients. There are many examples of medical malpractices and wrongdoings in the medical field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprises\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As we all know that the concept of medical tourism is based on leaving one\u2019s own country and traveling abroad to seek healthcare. When you do it, surprises are something that might come your way no matter how well you prepare. Still, the possibility of medical tourists facing surprises remains as high as ever \u2013 wherein some might come out to be more dire and unusual than others.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the hotel you booked during you medical tour does not come out well up to your expectations. In another case, what would you do if the transport service you booked to and from the destination medical facility is somehow cancelled or has some issue? Take another example. If you come to know that physician you were talking to from your home country isn\u2019t the one who will actually perform your surgery is really traumatic. You really do not want this to happen but could not help it either since you have traveled from your home country to the medical facility to seek healthcare; and, going back without it will not be a good idea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the top of this, the very thought of various medical tourists not getting the treatment that they expected start hovering in your mind to trouble you even further. As a result, the chances of disruptions and room for error remains even after your comprehensive and timely planning.<\/span><\/p>\n

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