Monday, July 16, 2007
One Night In Bangkok
The Colorado Springs Business Journal has an article by Amy Gillentine which examines a lot of aspects of medical tourism which normally get swept under the carpet. After the usual wowed by Bumrungrad and heart surgery in India stuff, she gets down to the issues facing the medical tourism industry.
The litigious atmosphere in the United States – one of the things driving up the cost of health care – is one reason Markwith is moving cautiously.
His company has been faced with several issues: if something goes wrong, who gets sued? Would the marketing firm, even though it’s not a health care provider, be liable if it recommends doctors and hospitals in India? Markwith said the field is so new, there’s been no case law to determine fault when a patient is harmed by overseas treatment.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to sue the doctor in India if something goes wrong,” he said. “So we are going at this slowly, to make sure that we won’t be held responsible, possibly sued.”
Uh...Amy, do the words Waiver of Responsibility ring any bells? The healthcare clinic can't ask a patient for a waiver, but a guy who's marketing the healthcare center's services can ask for a waiver, specially if the patient wants to catch a flight and go halfway across the world to have a little nip and tuck and come back looking like Julia Roberts. Not your fault if she comes back looking like Ugly Betty. The doctors in Bumrungrad are good, but not so that good that they can turn the ol' wife into a sexy babe.......
But still, it does complicate things a bit when you're trying to assure a nervous customer that getting a dental bridge in Costa Rica is a breeze, and he'll be back for dinner. And just when he's ready to pack his bags, you shove a Waiver of Responsibility form in front of his nose, and watch him start shivering, when you say that this form is just in case something goes wrong....
Talking about Costa Rica dentists, I'm trying to get hold of one Dr. Luis Kaver. If anyone can help, it would be mucho appreciated. Nothing nefarious or scandalous - I just want to interview him.
The litigious atmosphere in the United States – one of the things driving up the cost of health care – is one reason Markwith is moving cautiously.
His company has been faced with several issues: if something goes wrong, who gets sued? Would the marketing firm, even though it’s not a health care provider, be liable if it recommends doctors and hospitals in India? Markwith said the field is so new, there’s been no case law to determine fault when a patient is harmed by overseas treatment.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to sue the doctor in India if something goes wrong,” he said. “So we are going at this slowly, to make sure that we won’t be held responsible, possibly sued.”
Uh...Amy, do the words Waiver of Responsibility ring any bells? The healthcare clinic can't ask a patient for a waiver, but a guy who's marketing the healthcare center's services can ask for a waiver, specially if the patient wants to catch a flight and go halfway across the world to have a little nip and tuck and come back looking like Julia Roberts. Not your fault if she comes back looking like Ugly Betty. The doctors in Bumrungrad are good, but not so that good that they can turn the ol' wife into a sexy babe.......
But still, it does complicate things a bit when you're trying to assure a nervous customer that getting a dental bridge in Costa Rica is a breeze, and he'll be back for dinner. And just when he's ready to pack his bags, you shove a Waiver of Responsibility form in front of his nose, and watch him start shivering, when you say that this form is just in case something goes wrong....Talking about Costa Rica dentists, I'm trying to get hold of one Dr. Luis Kaver. If anyone can help, it would be mucho appreciated. Nothing nefarious or scandalous - I just want to interview him.
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