Healthcare abroad is a lure;
BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER aoppenheimer@MiamiHerald.com - July 12, 2008
Little did I know that, accidentally, I would be hospitalized for three weeks in
Before we get into my experience, let's take a quick look at why I have maintained that the globalization of medical services will become an increasingly useful option for Americans who can't afford ever-increasing
About 180,000 Americans are crossing borders every year for medical procedures such as knee and hip replacements, health screenings or oral surgeries, said Josef Woodman, author of Patients Without Borders.
In addition, 400,000 Americans go abroad for ''wellness travel'' or ''alternative therapies,'' which would bring the total to about 580,000.
Milika Bookman, author of Medical Tourism in Developing Countries, estimates that tiny
The reasons behind the slow-motion exodus of American patients from the
A heart bypass -- including surgery and a hospital stay in a private, single-bed room -- costs an average of $100,000 in the
A hip replacement goes for an average of $45,000 in the
The stampede of Americans seeking affordable healthcare in other countries is bound to grow. Over the next three decades, there will be an estimated 100 million American baby boomers reaching retirement age. Many of them will not be able to afford their medical services at home.
As happens in Europe, where German, British and Swedish retirees move to Spain for several months a year in search of more personalized medical care, cheaper living costs and sunnier skies, growing numbers of Americans will move into retirement communities in northern Mexico, Costa Rica and other Latin American countries.
But are these countries ready to provide first-world medical services? Judging from my recent experience in
AN EMERGENCY
On June 9, while having dinner at a restaurant with two Mexican officials, I suddenly fell ill, tried unsuccessfully to throw up, and blew up my esophagus in the process. It's a rare medical condition, known as Boerhaave Syndrome, with a high risk of death.
To my great fortune, the two officials with me not only called an ambulance, they telephoned a senior official of the
By the time the ambulance arrived at the nearest hospital -- the Angeles Mocel hospital -- they had convened a first-class team of physicians who were awaiting me. It didn't take long for Dr. Jorge Salas, the lung doctor who presided over the team, to rule out a heart attack, and enlist thoracic surgeon Dr. Patricio Santillan for an operation to remove the more than four pints of gastric fluid in my chest.
After a six-hour operation, I spent two weeks in intensive care and another week in a single-bed room until I was released -- with all tests showing excellent results -- on June 28. Doctors tell me that I should be back to normal in a matter of weeks.
Throughout this ordeal, the Mexican doctors and nurses couldn't have been more caring, or spent more time with me. From Day 1, all doctors gave me their cellular phone numbers, asking me not to hesitate to call them if I had any questions. When they visited my room, they did more than just look at my chart. The team, which included cardiologist Mario Velez and internist Paul Frenk, would spend more than an hour explaining the ups and downs of the healing process.
The nurses couldn't have been nicer. They called me by my first name -- I prefer that to the more impersonal ''honey'' or ''darling'' often heard in
My single-bed room was about four times the size of an average
''I'm not surprised by what you tell me,'' Patients Without Borders' author Woodman said. ``In the estimated 100 hospitals I visited in the last year in Taiwan, Korea, India, Costa Rica, Mexico and other countries, American patients have all said the quality of the treatment was better than what they had experienced in the United States.''
When I returned to
In fact, their prompt detection of the problem and swift operation saved my life. And the final hospital bill was $42,000 -- a fraction of the more than $170,000 it would have cost in the
Of course, there is a major caveat to this story: I got a royal treatment, which other foreigners may not get. My syndicated Miami Herald column runs in more than a dozen Mexican newspapers, my Oppenheimer Presenta television show runs on Mexican television, and several of my books have been bestsellers in
And the fact that Angeles chain President Olegario Vazquez Adir and UNAM's President Narro took a personal interest in my case, as did Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, with whom I had a prescheduled interview the day after my operation, obviously helped me get special attention.
THE GOOD AND THE BAD
In addition, medical tourism experts warn that there are both good hospitals and lousy hospitals in
Before you pick any foreign hospital, you should check the Joint Commission International's list of hospitals that abide by
But the medical tourism trend seems unstoppable, and
The
While foreigners will continue to come to the
''Medical tourism is making us seriously consider partnering with hospitals abroad,'' says Eduardo de Marchena, the
Asked whether ever-growing numbers of Americans will flock abroad for medical treatment, Marc Lippman, chairman of the
''There is a major reason why that may not be the case, and it is that we are currently in an absolutely unsustainable healthcare mess in this country,'' he said, adding that it's ``inevitable that there will have to be solutions, and depending on what those solutions are, we may become more competitive again.''
My opinion: If Mexican doctors and nurses give their regular patients just a fraction of the royal treatment that they gave me, they are offering a much more personalized service than one can find in most