Medical travel and the quality-of-life

This chapter presents a general outline of the emergence, expansion, scope, and structure of medical travel and then discusses some of the principal issues in the relationship of medical travel and QOL: the advantages of medical travel for the patients’ QOL, the kinds of treatments sought, the manner of their provision in medical establishments abroad, and the problem of restitution in cases of malpractice. Case studies of the dangers involved in some risky treatments, not available in the home countries of severely ill patients but offered abroad, are presented. The drawbacks and advantages of medical travel both for the patients’ countries of origin and for their host countries are discussed. The chapter focuses primarily on the “new medical travel” of Western patients to the emergent medical hubs in non-Western countries, but deals only briefly with the numerically predominant medical travel from one to another non-Western country because of lack of adequate information. In conclusion, topics for future research on the interface of medical tourism and QOL are proposed.