- Home >
- Magazine Table of Contents - november-2009 >
- Worst Medical Tourism Disasters
Worst Medical Tourism Disasters
Louise Gubb/Corbis
Cosmetic Surgery in Brazil
The Botch Job: Usher’s soon-to-be-ex wife, Tameka Foster, had a much-publicized mishap at a non-JCI-accredited hospital in Brazil before undergoing a simple liposuction procedure. Foster, 38, went into cardiac arrest while being anesthetized, but was revived immediately by heart massage.
The Real Deal: Brazil’s devaluation of the real makes surgeries across the country dirt cheap and appealing. Brazil has 16 JCI-accredited hospitals and clinics but is plagued by a plethora of garage clinics, which should rarely be trusted, especially for surgery that requires anesthesia. (In the U.S., many malpractice cases are anesthesia related.)