Comments on CancerDoc: Thailand and Medical Tourism

I live and work in Thailand and have witnessed the...

2008-09-05T00:03:00.000-04:00

I live and work in Thailand and have witnessed the dramatic growth of medical tourism in the past few years. I also agree that the rise in medical tourism is a symptom of the problems in the US health care system. However, it is important to point out that the US patients are only one portion of the medical tourism business. There are many patients from the Middle East and European countries as well.

In regard to malpractice laws, there are in fact specific laws that allow for complaints to be filed and judgments rendered in the Thai courts against doctors and hospitals. However, the system differs from that in Western countries and judgments are generally smaller and the cost of filing a case is somewhat higher. Awards for malpractice are rendered in Thai courts on a regular basis and there is a medical review panel that disciplines medical doctors that run astray of technical or ethical standards. There is a more complete explanation of the legal framework for claiming malpractice in Thailand : Medical Malpractice in Thailand.

Has Anyone Actually Tried Medical Tourism? We've ...

2008-03-06T06:24:00.000-05:00

Has Anyone Actually Tried Medical Tourism? We've read about it, heard about it, and even talked about it. But how many of us know someone who has gone on a health vacation to India? Anyone ever come back from Thailand with a new hip? Is there any forum where real people can discuss real medical tourism issues.

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2008-02-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

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I was interested in reading this article.In my poi...

2007-11-06T11:05:00.000-05:00

I was interested in reading this article.
In my point of view, Thailand hospital become more popular nowadays, cause the prices are not so expensive, especially for US people, it is the main reason.
Also, like in India or Pakistan, lots of people illegally sell their parts of body, and of course transplantation is much cheaper and you needn't wait for a long time, like in Western countries.

I read the story of Mr.Goldberg's son. One thing I...

2007-08-01T16:28:00.000-04:00

I read the story of Mr.Goldberg's son. One thing I would like to point out is for him to compare to mortality rate of the hospital he mentrioned in Thailand to the hospitals in the U.S. Many patients die of adverse effects from their medications and treatments here in the U.S. I felt bad for him in the beginning but as I read more the story started to lose its credibility due to the reason mentioned above.

BUMRUNGRAD IS A BAD PLACE....Check out www.bumrung...

2007-07-20T12:32:00.000-04:00

BUMRUNGRAD IS A BAD PLACE....

Check out www.bumrungraddeath.com and see what they're REALLY all about.

Also, the Joint Commission Accreditation is meaningless...here as it is there! It is for sale and has been the subject of Congressional investigations for the past several years.

True, our healthcare system is broken...badly...but the people who broke it...and stole it blind...are the same folks who are on the receiving end for this new phenomena...medical tourism...more appropriately, medical outsourcing.

Have a look at what the hospital and the Joint Commission told me when I asked questions about my son's murder.

They are unregulated...there are NO medical malpractice laws on the books in Thailand...or most elsewhere in South East Asia...they over prescribe and misprescribe medications...the doctors get kick backs for prescribing meds...and if something goes wrong...and it does...you have NO where to go!!! They know it...the JC knows it...the American Insurance companies know it....the corporations fixing to send people by the plane load know it....and they're going to do it because there is BIG money at stake...and like good Americans...who can walk away from a deal like that!

Jim Goldberg
jimgoldberg@optonline.net

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2007-06-08T08:12:00.000-04:00

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Your comments on the stratification of healthcare-...

2007-05-15T03:21:00.000-04:00

Your comments on the stratification of healthcare--both in the US and developing nations--are spot on.

Certainly in this country, medical travel is at best a band-aid on the acute wounds of the US healthcare system. Yet--passing fad or no--what does one tell an un- or under-insured American patient faced with putting a second mortgage on his home to pay for an unaffordable procedure?

Until real change spawns viable options, Americans and Westerners will increasingly take advantage the shifts in global healthcare services, and board airplanes seeking less expensive care abroad. Right or wrong, that's a simple fact of market-driven economics.

The best we can hope for is that our political and industry leaders will take note, and that the increased popularity of medical tourism will act as a catalytic agent of change.

In researching "Patients Beyond Borders," we learned that in some countries, such as India, governments are working with hospital networks to redistribute medical tourism profits toward the improvement of public healthcare. The Apollo hospital network--Asia's second largest--has done so, with several clinics constructed in rural India, including a pilot telemedicine center in one of the most economically-challenged regions.