Department of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, 1032 West Sheridan Road, Chicago, IL 60660, USA.
J Med Ethics. 2010 May;36(5):297-301. doi: 10.1136/jme.2009.032789. Epub 2010 May 3.
International medical travel occurs when patients cross national borders to purchase medical goods and services. On occasion, physicians in home countries will be the last point of domestic contact for patients seeking healthcare information before they travel abroad for care. When this is the case, physicians have a unique opportunity to inform patients about their options and help guide them towards ethical practices. This opportunity brings to the fore an important question: What role should physicians in more-developed home countries play in promoting or constraining international medical travel towards less-developed destination countries? In our view, critical attention to the decision spaces of patients-defined by the personal circumstances, socio-cultural cues, and legal constraints that inform decision-making-is a useful starting point for evaluating the proper response of physicians to various forms of international medical travel.
国际医疗旅游是指患者跨国购买医疗商品和服务。有时，在国内寻求医疗信息的患者出国就医前，国内的医生会成为他们的最后一个国内联系人。在这种情况下，医生有一个独特的机会，可以向患者介绍他们的选择，并帮助他们选择合乎道德规范的做法。这一机会提出了一个重要的问题：发达国家的医生在促进或限制国际医疗旅游流向欠发达国家目的地方面应该扮演什么角色？我们认为，关注患者的决策空间至关重要——这些决策空间由影响决策的个人情况、社会文化线索和法律限制所定义——这是评估医生对各种形式的国际医疗旅游的适当反应的一个有用起点。
