MEDICAL TOURISM: If something goes wrong, who will fix you?

Going overseas for medical procedures is a trend that started in dentistry and is steadily becoming more popular in cosmetic surgery. But even with the cost savings I would never, ever, consider it for my patients, my family or myself.

While having the procedure done is one thing, many people fail to understand the risks. If something goes wrong, who will fix you? From time to time, we will receive a call at the office from a person who has concerns following a surgical procedure they had performed outside the country. Questions have ranged from “Can you take out my stitches?” to “I think my incisions might be coming apart, can you take a look?” The patient has been operated upon by a foreign surgeon without any provisions made for longer term care and follow-up evaluation.

Medical Tourism

Traveling out of the country for an elective surgical procedure is known as “medical tourism.” The hope is that the procedure will be much less expensive than it would be in the United States. Most medical tourists we have seen here in the Northwest have traveled to Mexico for their surgery, but we have also seen people who have gone to Brazil, India, Thailand, and Canada.

There is no question that there are qualified surgeons practicing in many foreign countries. The real question is how to find such a surgeon and ensure that he or she will operate to the same high standards we have in the United States. Here in America, surgeons must not only pass rigorous board certification examinations, but we also must operate in nationally accredited surgery facilities. This provides the greatest level of safety for our patients and is not necessarily the case for doctors outside the US. Foreign surgeons will vary widely in their training and certification, as will the facilities in which they operate. Even the medications used for anesthesia are not subject to the same oversight and regulation as is applied here. Not surprisingly, regulation is expensive and most certainly adds to the cost of surgery in the United States.

Postoperative Follow-up Close to Home

A patient can often pay less money up front to have a given procedure in a foreign country. The risk arises if the patient has complications or is unsatisfied with her result for any reason.

Complications can occasionally occur, even with the best surgeons under the best of circumstances. For that reason, close follow-up with your surgeon is necessary after any surgical procedure. The original operating surgeon will be the person best equipped to handle anything unexpected following a procedure. If patient records are unavailable or in another language, it can be difficult for your local plastic surgeon to decipher what medical procedures were performed. Any delay in treatment for a complication can prove very expensive or dangerous for the patient.

Most surgeons are reluctant to take on a patient who was operated on in a foreign country except under emergency circumstances, so aspiring “medical tourists” need to make arrangements for their postoperative evaluations and long term care.

Most of my patients will be seen within one week after surgery and then every few weeks thereafter until they are well healed. Our patients rest easier knowing they can see their doctor at any time should they have concerns. This level of care becomes difficult when the operating surgeon is hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of miles away.

Regardless of where a patient chooses to have surgery, he or she needs to be well informed regarding her doctor’s qualifications and experience, the experience and training of the staff, the professionalism of the facility, and the plan for postoperative care.