Travel abroad for medical treatment

[Notmuchlonger]

Article on MSN goes over getting medical treatment out of the US.

Since people here have done this. I wonder if you could chime in on the quality of the article. I have never received service out of the US.

Vacation Doc: Traveling Abroad for Treatment - MSN Travel Articles



Thanks

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Lots of discussion on the board about this if you are interested. A search of medical care abroad or medical tourism might work.

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa Lots of discussion on the board about this if you are interested. A search of medical care abroad or medical tourism might work.

Thank you Rich.

I was curious to others thoughts who had real world knowledge as compared to what the article was about. I will do some searching.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

My take on the consensus was that for discrete, usually procedural things like dental crowns, routine surgery unlikely to need long-term recuperation, and -- caveat emptor -- even things like coronary bypass, it has worked well for some.

But for ongoing illnesses, high complication surgery and most other things the negatives of being far from home, the difficulties in assessing the quality of care, and the worry of unexpected complications loomed large.

For those who live abroad permanently, it's a different story.

[Trek]

I don't count as a true medical tourist as I've retired permanently overseas, but I've had dental procedures, eye exams and surgery outside the US (all here in Estonia) and have had excellent quality of care. Granted I live here full time, but I saved $4000 on some dental work I recently had, so even if I didn't live here it would have been worth it to fly over and have it done.

The surgery I had was urgent and not optional but my care was great. I happened to be in the proximity of our largest university's medical school hospital, one of the best places I could have had it done.

The article stated that some countries have more assistants and staff available. When I had my surgery and was in the recovery room, there were multiple nurses fussing over me. When my mom was in a couple different hospitals in Florida, there was often just one nurse covering an entire floor and good luck trying to get her attention.

Now of course I'm in a modern, developed European Union country with lots of oversight, regulations and rules to follow, so you'd want to excercise much more caution if you're going to an underdeveloped or third world country to have something done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa But for ongoing illnesses, high complication surgery and most other things the negatives of being far from home, the difficulties in assessing the quality of care, and the worry of unexpected complications loomed large.

Yeah, the key is to do your homework, but I can see that in many places where you don't speak the language or English isn't a predominate second language, doing the homework is going to be hard and frustrating. I wouldn't have anything done anywhere unless you are comfortable you have vetted the place well and fully and clearly understand your doctor and what is going to happen to you.

And don't forget, if you do leave the U.S. and things go bad for some reason, you (or your surviving family) probably won't get to sue tons of people for millions of dollars.