Medical Travel: The Ethical and Legal Challenges

Document Type : Review Article

Authors

1 Health Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

5 Health Management Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Medical tourism is a term referring to the people traveling to other countries to obtain medical care. Like any other rapid growing indus­try, medical tourism has prompted ethical and legal issues. These issues are mainly pertained to malpractice and consumer protection. Beside these, risk management, foreign hospital liabilities, international ad­vocacy, facility ownership, intellectual property, organ trafficking and ethical issues are other matters that should be addressed. Travel medi­cine also contains alternative medicine and telemedicine. Therefore, comprehensive and detailed legal regulations should be performed to govern mentioned issues. Otherwise, in future this industry will face serious challenges.

Keywords

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 05 April 2013
  • Revise Date: 01 May 2013
  • Accept Date: 05 May 2013

Share

How to cite

Statistics