Resource type
Date created
2018-07-20
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
Background Medical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care. The medical tourism industry has been portrayed in the media as an “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists. Discourse suggesting the medical tourism industry necessarily enhances access to medical care has been employed by industry stakeholders to promote continued expansion of the industry; however, it remains unknown how this discourse informs industry practices on the ground. Using case study methodology, this research examines the perspectives and experiences of industry stakeholders working and living in a dental tourism industry site in northern Mexico to develop a better understanding of the ways in which common discourses of the industry are taken up or resisted by various industry stakeholders and the possible implications of these practices on health equity.Results Interview discussions with a range of industry stakeholders suggest that care provision in this particular location enables international patients to access high quality dental care at more affordable prices than typically available in their home countries. However, interview participants also raised concerns about the quality of care provided to medical tourists and poor access to needed care amongst local populations. These concerns disrupt discourses about the positive health impacts of the industry commonly circulated by industry stakeholders positioned to profit from these unjust industry practices.Conclusions We argue in this paper that elite industry stakeholders in our case site took up discourses of medical tourism as enhancing access to care in ways that mask health equity concerns for the industry and justify particular industry activities despite health equity concerns for these practices. This research provides new insight into the ways in which the medical tourism industry raises ethical concern and the structures of power informing unethical practices.
Document
Published as
Adams, K., Snyder, J., Crooks, V.A. et al. A critical examination of empowerment discourse in medical tourism: the case of the dental tourism industry in Los Algodones, Mexico. Global Health 14, 70 (2018). DOI: 10.1186/s12992-018-0392-3.
Publication details
Publication title
Global Health
Document title
A Critical Examination of Empowerment Discourse in Medical Tourism: The Case of the Dental Tourism Industry in Los Algodones, Mexico
Date
2018
Volume
14
Issue
70
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12992-018-0392-3
Rights (standard)
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author(s).
Scholarly level
Peer reviewed?
Yes
Language
English
Member of collection
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