Would you travel overseas for a medical procedure?!

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There are many americans as well as citizens from another country travelling overseas to get a medical procedures done (anything from hip replacements to dental work or cosmetic procedures,source International Living magazine).Cost savings can range from 15% to 75%.Not to mention you can also see another country,have a vacation.Also it can help people who dont have a good insurance.Well I would do it without hesitation.Would you?

Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.
I guess Turkey would be an excellent choice for you!!!;)Also I'm suire most Indian doctors speak English fluently!:)

They speak Turkish in Turkey not English:uhoh3:

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Its actually my dream to go to Turkey one day but hopefully as a real tourist.

My mom goes to Turkey a couple of times a year (we're Turkish) and when she goes she often gets a few treatments/procedures done. She got laser hair removal for her full legs, underarmas and a Brazilian done for a total of $250! She did a total of 2 or 3 treatments so it only came to about $500-750 total for all that hair removal. and now she is soooo happy to be completely hair free, she can put on a skirt, bathing suit, or sleeveless shirt without every having to worry about hair removal. She also gets dental work when she's there.

As for me, the last time I went I had an accident and ended up needing surgery...I think we paid next to nothing, if anything. And the next time I go (either this year in December or next summer) I am definitely getting the same laser hair removal my mom did. I got laser on my underarms here and it cost $120/treatment whereas my mom paid $250 for a full body!!!

Anyway, there are lots of cool places you can visit in Turkey and I hope you go :)

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If I needed surgery, I would HAVE to go overseas. I don't have health insurance, and couldn't afford surgery here in the USA.

I am with you on this one. My brother had his appendix removed and it cost him $15,000 ( no insurance).....in most parts of Europe appendix surgery ranges from $300-$1000...damn with $15,000 you can have 20 diff surgeries covered :). And people in US wonder why people do not seek medical care right away...even with insurance it is expensive to pay a cardiac procedure. I was volunteering at the hospital and a patient asked me if I know anyone who could help him with his bill. And he goes on and tells me his story( I didn't ask). He had an open heart surgery and he was billed ( you could buy a house or do more with that money), and he stated," the doctors expect me to have a healthy heart how can I prevent heart attacks if they keep scaring me with this bills." I just hope that someday the authority decides to improve the healthcare instead of sending spaceships to the Moon,Mars and all those planets when they know that the economy is not that great now. I was listening to the news the other day and they are going to send a spaceship or whatever it is to another planet when they know that people on Earth are struggling and yet they are willing to spend billions to explore other planets when they know that the economy is not that great.

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Specializes in NICU.

I wouldn't hesitate to go. U.S. has some of the worst quality of healthcare any darn way. I have insurance in another country that I am a citizen of, where there is UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE and it is A-MA-Zing

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My grandma had an awsome experience but as everywhere in the world things can go wrong.I'm sorry about your aunt though.I remember hearing not so long ago actually about a huge affair where one of the hospital in the US (cant remember the state) reused their needles and a lot of patients contracted Hepatitis C.I mean who would have though that this would happen in the US right? But it did.Also I'm sure if the health care was so bad in other countries people wouldnt travel there to get their procedures done,especially famous people who have tons of money.Just sayin...:twocents:

Sure, but in the US you have sone sort of recourse. In my aunt's situation, when it became apparent to her that she was not getting anywhere near appropriate treatment and was actually becoming very ill due to infusion of unknown substances, she confronted her doc. Next thing she knew, she was dumped at some horrible hospital where no one spoke English, and where no one knew any thing about her. The clinic didn't provide any sort of records. The hospital was terribly underfunded and dirty. She didn't even know what town she was in, muchless the name of the hospital.

Long story short, she was so ill at that point that my grandfather had to go down there, make arrangements for her to be transferred to another facility, and then hire two nurses to accompany her on a medical flight back to the Us. This cost my grandparents in the neighborhood of forty grand in the 1980s. When they looked inot legal action, they discovered they had absolutely no recourse. All in all my aunt and grandparents lost somewhere around 100k in Mexico and my aunt went into liver failure due to the treatments a subsequently died.

So buyer beware. Use very food judgement in scheduling overseas medical work. It's also important to know how exactly you will return if you experience some sort of complication. Medical flights are very expensive.

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Sorry for the typos on my above post. I'm posting from my iPod and I'm not to good at this het.

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They speak Turkish in Turkey not English:uhoh3:

I'm sure that there are some doctors who speak English.

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i also work in the miami/ft lauderdale area as an ICU RN. I have seen lots of septic folks following a cosmetic vacay... they try to save money and it winds up costing soooo much more. You dont have time to be choosy about where you are going for medical care when you are gonna die! Ivanna

I'm not sure if I agree with you actually.There are a lot of septic patients here in the U.S.Some patients contract MRSA,sepsis,pneumonia during their hospital stay.Also you here in the news from time to time about people dying from plastic surgery complications-I'm sure the precentage is higher herer in the U.S but is not advertised.The only difference is that some countries dont carry extremely costly anti-septic meds.

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They speak Turkish in Turkey not English:uhoh3:

Of course the native language dominates in Turkey but there are doctors that speak English or other languages, English is a universal language and many people speak it now a days. even if the doctor speaks Turkce they have interpreters.

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If i am ever again in need of a scope, it won't be done in Wisconsin! I've had one here, and ended up perforated in two places, and sent home!! Ended up back in ER, with a bowel resection, and septic! Almost lost my life.

So no, US healthcare isn't the best, and especially in this state

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They speak Turkish in Turkey not English:uhoh3:

Actually, MOST doctors will speak enough English to communicate very comfortably with international patients. In fact, many of the doctors in top hospitals have completed their education at either the top schools in Turkey which require proficiency in English, or they have completed their education outside of Turkey in places like America, England or another European country.

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I gave birth in Istanbul, while I was a missionary overseas. The hospital was incredible, and much nicer than any of the hospitals I've worked in the states! But the hospital was an international one, that specifically catered to internatonal patients, so it wasn't a community hospital. I had my choice of going to Istanbul, Dubai or Thailand for my delivery. Thailand is supposed to have some of the best healthcare in the world! AND they have a great sense of hospitality, the nurses bathe the patient in jasime water after giving birth and then give massages! You can't beat that!

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