A Robust, Particularist Ethical Assessment of Medical Tourism

Abstract

Recently, in increasing numbers, citizens of wealthy nations are heading to poorer countries for medical care. They are traveling to the global South as medical tourists because in their home nations either they cannot get timely medical care or they cannot afford needed treatments. This essay offers a robust, particularist ethical assessment of the practice of citizens of richer nations traveling to poorer countries for healthcare.

Ethics of care in medical tourism: Informal caregivers' narratives of responsibility, vulnerability and mutuality

“…In addition, medical tourism provides a key example of marketization in the provision of care, as destinations compete to attract consumers of medical services (Connell, 2013;Hanefeld et al, 2013;Lunt et al, 2014). Research on the trade in global health services has highlighted the ethical and equity impacts of medical tourism in destination countries (Meghani, 2010;Cohen, 2012;Chen and Flood, 2013;Turner, 2013). An ethic of care requires that we continue to examine the ethical ramifications of this industry at multiple scales, including the micro-landscapes of care, and examine the consequences for individuals in destination as well as source countries, including caregiver-companions.…”

Medical Tourism and Transnational Health Care

“…For instance, does the development of MT reduce access to public health? The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have forced developing countries to cut public spending on education, child care, social welfare and health care (Meghani, 2011). Data on the evolution of the public health sector show that since the liberalisation of the health care sector, access to health care has worsened.…”

“…Thus, not MT itself but the steps enabling MT to develop have had a detrimental effect on access to public health care. However, the same plan of liberalisation and privatisation of health care also channels money from the government to private clinics through tax breaks, lower import duties and so on (Meghani, 2011). Indirectly, the tax payers cover part of the bill of the medical tourist travelling to their country.…”

Ethical issues associated with medical tourism in Africa

“…Whether MT is moral or not needs an engagement with the claims, assumptions and critiques made at a meta-ethical theoretical level as argued in some reviewed works [61]. …”