Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook (Contemporary World Issues)

From exotic spa treatments to euthanasia, this book examines the background and social context of medical tourism―the practice of traveling for health care. This work also documents how this industry is reshaping the face of medicine worldwide for individuals, local communities, and national health care systems.

Medical Tourism: A Reference Handbook provides an accessible overview of the state of medical tourism, written from a balanced, unbiased perspective. The authors provide relevant social context for this controversial topic, discussing the state of extremely limited research data on medical tourism; the ethical issues involved, such as traveling to have a black-market organ transplanted; and the significant impact of medical tourism on health care systems―that of the United States, and those of the destination countries.

The book highlights many contemporary problems, controversies, and implications of medical tourism both for individuals and health care systems, and presents thought-provoking potential solutions. The topic of medical tourism is also addressed against the backdrop of current healthcare reforms in the United States. Readers can reference a wealth of additional material on medical tourism, ranging from original documents to extensive directories of selected organizations and resources.

STEPHANIE WATSON is an independent scholar who has written and contributed to numerous works, including World of Genetics and Science and Its Times. She is the author of The Urinary System, and coauthor of The Endocrine System, both in Greenwood's Human Body Systems series.

KELLI MILLER is an independent scholar and is the founder of NewScience Inc. where she is feature writer on health and medicine for clients such as The Scientist and Popular Science.