Worst Medical Tourism Disasters

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.)

The Botch Job: Irishman Pierre Christian Lawlor, 33, traveled from Ireland to Bogota in 2007 to have a few nips, tucks, and some lipo done, reported Irish newspapers. The day before the surgery, Lawlor found an Irish pub and drank alcohol and used cocaine, his wife reportedly told authorities later. The next day, Lawlor died of cardiac arrest shortly after the lengthy surgery. The doctor performing the autopsy said she was of the opinion “that his death should be classified as a operative death,” according to Ireland’s Herald.

The Real Deal: Though conditions are improving countrywide and Colombia is the highest ranking country in the Americas on the World Health Organization’s world health systems list, many garage clinics have popped up and none of Colombia’s hospitals have JCI accreditation yet, though three have applied and are under review.

The Botch Job: A woman from Melbourne traveled to Singapore for a discreet and affordable $4,000 facelift, which can cost up to $6,500 in Australia. She returned to her home with various problems, reported the Herald Sun, including a damaged facial nerve that caused the right side of her face to collapse; the left side developed an untreated hematoma due to hair left under the skin. After months of hiding, she spent nearly $10,000 to have her lumpy face repaired by a Melbourne revision plastic surgeon.

The Real Deal: Singapore is one of the biggest medical-tourism markets around and has developed a reputation for heart surgery. Its health-care system is ranked the best in Asia by the World Health Organization (and the sixth best in the world), and the country has about a dozen JCI-accredited facilities. But it has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios among developed countries (about 1:635 as opposed to 1:374 in the U.S.); the country has begun to recruit medical professionals from America and Europe and is opening new med-tourism facilities, like Connexion at Farrer Park, a 20-story “mediplex” slated to open in 2011, which will feature a hospital, private hospital suites, and a full-service hotel for patients and caregivers.

The Botch Job: Thirtysomething New Yorker Stacey Cavaliere had lost 100 pounds and sought out a budget physician in Costa Rica to tuck and tone the excess skin. According to the New York Daily News, during the surgery she endured massive blood loss, and an emergency secondary operation was needed to stop internal bleeding. The doctor, who diagnosed her with anemia but operated anyway, told her she should return in a few months for reconstructive surgery. After returning home, Cavaliere was rushed to the emergency room; her abdomen had a raging infection and needed to be cleaned out. A skin graft from her thigh to her stomach was needed in order to close a deep wound. Her condition took eight additional surgeries to fix.

The Real Deal: Beware of the providers who are most visible on the Internet. They are not necessarily the most reputable and often lack credentials. Many dentists are schooled in America, and most are concentrated in San José. Consult the website of the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica for recommended dentists.

The Botch Job: A 45-year-old woman from Israel traveled to a Bucharest clinic for fertility treatments. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Romanian authorities broke into a clinic in the middle of her procedure to arrest three of the clinic’s doctors who were allegedly running an illegal egg-trafficking business that involved overstimulating patients’ ovaries with drugs for extraction and sale on the black market. The woman was dragged out of the clinic by authorities immediately after her treatment ended.

The Real Deal: Egg trafficking is a big business in Eastern Europe and Israel, where fertility laws are looser than they are in Western Europe and the U.S., and where egg-trafficking schemes have scandalized a handful of fertility clinics.

The Botch Jobs: In 2000, at least 30 people died as a result of counterfeit malaria medicines sold in Cambodia as mefloquine and artesunate, according to the CDC and WHO. In 2006, an unlicensed Chinese company sold counterfeit cough syrup containing diethylene glycol, a chemical similar to antifreeze, to Panama, resulting in 100 deaths, reported the New York Times. And countless numbers of tourists have experienced bizarre side effects from drugs purchased at the drugstore closest to their resort.

The Real Deal: Thinking of popping into the farmacia in Cancún to score some discount Ambien or Viagra? First consider that more than 700,000 people die every year from counterfeit drugs and alcohol. Much of the phony drugs are manufactured in China’s “Chemical Country” and in India, and exported via a ruthlessly toxic black market to resort areas in developing countries, according to the BBC. Pharmacies in Europe and North America have also seen sharp rises in counterfeiting.

The Botch Job: An American man in his late 20s hated being 5-foot-6. After doing some Internet research, he decided to travel to Iran for a risky leg-lengthening operation. After he returned home from Tehran, he claimed in an online forum, he noticed screws protruding from his right leg, and X-rays showed broken nails in both legs. He said he needed two more surgeries to correct the botch job.

The Real Deal: Illegal in most countries and recently banned in China, cosmetic leg-lengthening surgery is still legal in the U.S. and in a handful of other countries, among them France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Jordan, India, and Russia—where the Ilizarov technique was developed. The procedure is excruciatingly painful and requires at least 12 months of healing. Risks involved include infection, damage of nerves and blood vessels and fat embolism, which can result in death. But beyond this, the Middle East is an emerging medical tourism destination for Europeans seeking cheaper health care. Jordan, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates are becoming medical-tourism hot spots.

The Botch Job: A woman in her 50s decided to take a “scalpel tour” from Sydney to a Bangkok hospital for a breast lift and tummy tuck, reported Reuters in 2007. She was discharged and within five days developed an infection in her abdomen and left breast. The doctors offered to readmit her, but at her own cost. Her budget depleted, she boarded the nine-hour flight home, gravely ill and with weeping wounds and a potentially fatal infection. She has had several rounds of revision surgery.

The Real Deal: Thailand’s medical tourism is booming, and the country offers some of the cheapest medical treatments in the world. Many problems can be traced back to private clinics, so seek out accredited institutions and don’t buy into Internet hype or word-of-mouth recommendations.