Medical tourism (MT) is a practice where patients seek medical treatment
abroad, usually paid for out-of-pocket. MT is growing globally and has
received increased attention in the Canadian media. This media attention
has included reports of ethical problems in the practice of MT, raising
concerns about risks of infection spread by medical tourists,
complications from treatment, problems receiving follow up care once
home, concerns about fraudulent practices by MT facilitators, and
worries about increased costs for the Canadian health system. Ethical
concerns have also been raised with its effects on low and middle income
countries, which increasingly serve as destinations for medical
tourists from high income countries. These concerns include worsening
inequities in access to medical services abroad and promoting
privatization without appropriate regulatory safeguards.
In our own exploratory research into understanding why Canadians engage
in MT, we interviewed 32 Canadian medical tourists and learned that
these patients are generally unaware of the ethical concerns that have
been associated with MT. The current proposal is motivated by an
interest in better informing potential medical tourists of these areas
of ethical conflict by building on a tradition of developing ethical
guidelines seen in other areas with identified ethical concerns,
including coffee and other food items, apparel, and travel. We have
three objectives: 1) consult with a wide range of stakeholders in MT,
including patients, health professionals, and industry representatives
to identify areas of ethical concern specifically for international
patients in MT; 2) determine the best means of informing the choices of
potential medical tourists around areas of ethical conflict; and 3)
develop a guideline that can be distributed to potential medical
tourists, while also identifying knowledge gaps that can inform future
research with an aim toward evaluating and ultimately improving this
guideline.
