The remarkable rise in medical tourism, where patients travel out of their home country for their plastic surgery, has put into question the foundation of the patient-doctor relationship and is endangering many who seek low cost surgery.

-Team@CMHF

• Travel agencies are brokering surgery for their clients with surgeons they have never met.
• The patients have no assurance that their surgeon is properly trained or qualified to perform the procedure they will undergo, and all too often little attention is paid to post-surgical care says Catherine Foss, Executive Director of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).
• Complication rates for surgeries performed under these circumstances are alarming.
• Complications from International Surgery Tourism, referred to a recent U.S. study showing an increase in post-surgical complication rates in patients returning from surgery overseas.
• In quite a few cases, the complications were sufficiently serious to require that patients go directly to a hospital for care on their return.
• The Patient Safety Diamond devised by ISAPS President bases the concept of safe surgery on four factors:
1. The patient should be a good candidate for the requested surgery
2. The surgeon must be properly trained and credentialed
3. The procedure should be appropriate for the patient
4. The facility should be an accredited and a proven safe venue with properly trained staff and emergency preparedness.
• When the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the Safe Surgery Saves Lives initiative promoting their Surgical Safety Checklist ISAPS was one of the initial endorsing organizations at the launch of this program in Washington, D.C. in June of 2008.
• A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that use of the 19-question checklist reduced surgical complications by more than one third and surgical deaths by almost half in the test hospitals as compared to control hospitals.
• Consumers around the world have looked to ISAPS for over 40 years for the most accurate and reliable information about qualified plastic surgeons and advice about procedures.
• There is a misconception that anyone with an MD can safely perform any surgical procedure.
• Legislation around the world is changing to reflect a growing concern that patients are being treated surgically by incompetent and untrained individuals – sometimes not even physicians.
• A new insurance program developed in the UK, endorsed by ISAPS and underwritten by Lloyd’s of London, the first of its kind in the world, provides complications insurance for plastic surgeons globally to help protect their patients.
• This insurance is only available if the surgeon is a member of ISAPS.
• Second insurance product for patients about to be launched in the UK will expand to other countries later.
• Coverage will include travel insurance and will respond in cases of complications from aesthetic surgery either at home or abroad.
• This new insurance program requires that patients are screened at home before traveling abroad for surgery to be sure they are appropriate candidates for the procedure they seek.
• The intention is that a consultation with a surgeon at home will provide counseling against travel for complicated surgical procedures.
• The insurance will only respond if surgical complications of surgery by one ISAPS member surgeon are treated either by that same surgeon or by another ISAPS member surgeon.
• A patient requiring remedial or corrective treatment once back in their country of residence will be directed to an ISAPS surgeon approved to carry out the specific treatment indicated.
• Complications of plastic surgery can result in hematomas, post-surgical infection, slow wound drainage or healing problems, tissue necrosis, or suture dehiscence.
• Some complications have very poor or no resolution and these results can never be corrected.
• The international medical community has a lot of work to do to educate patients that they have the right to ask if their surgeon is a member of their National Society, is board certified (or the equivalent) and is trained to perform the specific procedure the patient wants.
• The number of cases where patients suffer at the hands of incompetent doctors, or doctors attempting procedures they are not properly trained to perform, points to this growing need to educate the public about their own surgical safety.
• Traveling abroad for surgery just to save money can lead to poor outcomes, often with avoidable complications, little or no recourse to return for additional treatment, and sometimes resulting in tragic consequences.
• The ISAPS mission is twofold:
1. Continuing education of plastic surgeons in latest techniques in the field of aesthetic (cosmetic) surgery and medicine
2. Promotion of patient safety

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