TITLE: NIA Cracks Down on Transnational Organ Trade Racket
https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/headlines/3055189-nia-cracks-down-on-transnational-organ-trade-racket
EXCERPT: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took a significant step on Saturday by filing a charge sheet in connection with a transnational organ trade racket camouflaged as medical tourism. According to an NIA statement, four individuals have been accused, including one who is currently absconding.
As per NIA investigations, these individuals lured unsuspecting young people into donating their organs for monetary compensation and subsequently trafficked them to foreign countries. Agents and social media were employed to find and exploit these prospective organ donors in India.
TITLE: Dutch woman dies after surgery in Turkey; Experts concerned about "medical tourism"
https://nltimes.nl/2024/08/15/dutch-woman-dies-surgery-turkey-experts-concerned-medical-tourism
EXCERPTS: Aleyna Bozkurt from Drunten was 24 years old and about to get married when she had a cosmetic procedure done in Turkey. The surgery lasted seven hours, and she died a few days later. Such a death is exceptional, but complications after cosmetic treatment abroad are common. Experts are concerned by “medical tourism” promoted by online influencers, Nieuwsuur reports.
Aleyna’s family also thinks social media played a role in her decision to go to Turkey. “These girls are influenced by advertisements on social media where very serious operations are presented as if they are nothing,” her uncle, Haci Aslan, told the program. “As if you go laughingly into the operating room. As a result, they have no idea what an attack that is on their body.”
Aleyna went on holiday to Turkey in mid-July. While there, she called her parents to tell them that she had decided to undergo liposuction, a tummy tuck, and another procedure at a private hospital in Izmir. “It was a major procedure, three operations in one. In the Netherlands, they would do it in three sessions. But she didn’t see the risks at all,” Aslan said.
Aslan also spoke to his niece and tried to convince her to get treatment in the Netherlands. But she did not want to wait. She was getting married in the autumn. “She had a gastric reduction two years ago, which caused her to lose a lot of weight and have excess fat. In the Netherlands, her weight would first have to be stable. If she had the procedure done here, it would all have been in stages.”
Plastic surgeon Edin Hajder, the director of the Dutch Association for Plastic Surgery, thinks Aleyna died due to a pulmonary embolism. “That is a blood clot that breaks loose from the legs and travels to the lungs. It is a known risk for very long procedures.”
Hajder stressed that treatment abroad is not necessarily risky. “Very renowned, world-famous surgeons work in Turkey. But I don’t think they have recruiters on social media who offer package holidays with operations at rock-bottom prices.” He wouldn’t ban medical tourism but would like action against influencers promoting treatment abroad without any medical training.
A few years ago, research showed that young people who follow influencers who have undergone cosmetic surgery are more likely to opt for such a surgery themselves. “We need to make young people resilient to the effects of these types of influencers and social media,” Hajder said.
TITLE: Top of the ops: Dubai medical tourism booming as 691,000 spend over $280m; top procedures revealed
https://gulfbusiness.com/dubai-sees-691000-medical-tourists-visit-in-2023/
EXCERPTS: Dubai medical tourism is booming, with 691,000 health tourists spending AED1bn ($280m) last year, according to a recent report by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA).
This upsurge is evident in the increased number of tourists seeking medical treatment in Dubai and their significant spending on a range of healthcare services.
The report reflects the rising global confidence in the quality and excellence of Dubai’s healthcare services across different medical specialties. It also demonstrates the emirate’s competitive advantage as a leading health tourism destination regionally and globally.
Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority, emphasised that the rising number of international tourists from every corner of the globe opting for healthcare services in Dubai reflects global trust in the emirate’s healthcare sector.
He highlighted Dubai’s exceptional service quality, conforming to the latest standards of excellence and healthcare.
He also outlined several factors that have significantly bolstered Dubai’s health tourism sector. These include enhancements to the emirate’s healthcare system through incorporating and leveraging cutting-edge technological advancements, ensuring the availability of top-notch medical expertise, and attractive programmes and initiatives designed for international patients.
Furthermore, the competitive pricing provided by healthcare facilities in Dubai and the government’s dedication to advancing the health tourism sector through fruitful partnerships aim to enhance the emirate’s competitiveness in this domain, further solidifying Dubai’s status as a preferred destination for individuals seeking medical treatment and recovery.
Dentistry, dermatology and gynaecology are among the most popular activities for medical tourists coming to Dubai.
TITLE: Traveling To Die: The Latest Form of Medical Tourism
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/aid-in-dying-travel-medical-tourism-vermont-oregon-state-legislation/
EXCERPTS: As in other states that allow what some call physician-assisted death or assisted suicide, Oregon and Vermont require patients to be assessed by two doctors. Patients must have less than six months to live, be mentally and cognitively sound, and be physically able to ingest the drugs to end their lives. Charts and records must be reviewed in the state; neglecting to do so constitutes practicing medicine out of state, which violates medical licensing requirements. For the same reason, the patients must be in the state for the initial exam, when they request the drugs, and when they ingest them.
Diana Barnard, a Vermont palliative care physician, said some patients cannot even come for their appointments. “They end up being sick or not feeling like traveling, so there’s rescheduling involved,” she said. “It’s asking people to use a significant part of their energy to come here when they really deserve to have the option closer to home.”
Anthropologist Anita Hannig, who interviewed dozens of terminally ill patients while researching her 2022 book, “The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America,” said she doesn’t expect federal legislation to settle the issue anytime soon. As the Supreme Court did with abortion in 2022, it ruled assisted dying to be a states’ rights issue in 1997.
During the 2023-24 legislative sessions, 19 states (including [ovarian cancer-sufferer Francine] Milano’s home state of Pennsylvania) considered aid-in-dying legislation, according to the advocacy group Compassion & Choices. Delaware was the sole state to pass it, but the governor has yet to act on it.
Peg Sandeen, CEO of the group Death With Dignity, said that many states initially pass restrictive laws — requiring 21-day wait times and psychiatric evaluations, for instance — only to eventually repeal provisions that prove unduly onerous. That makes her optimistic that more states will eventually follow Vermont and Oregon, she said.
Milano would have preferred to travel to neighboring New Jersey, where aid in dying has been legal since 2019, but its residency requirement made that a nonstarter. And though Oregon has more providers than the largely rural state of Vermont, Milano opted for the nine-hour car ride to Burlington because it was less physically and financially draining than a cross-country trip.
The logistics were key because Milano knew she’d have to return. When she traveled to Vermont in May 2023 with her husband and her brother, she wasn’t near death. She figured that the next time she was in Vermont, it would be to request the medication. Then she’d have to wait 15 days to receive it.
The waiting period is standard to ensure that a person has what Diana Barnard, a Vermont palliative care physician, calls “thoughtful time to contemplate the decision,” although she said most have done that long before. Some states have shortened the period or, like Oregon, have a waiver option.
That waiting period can be hard on patients, on top of being away from their health care team, home, and family. [Oncologist Charles] Blanke said he has seen as many as 25 relatives attend the death of an Oregon resident, but out-of-staters usually bring only one person. And while finding a place to die can be a problem for Oregonians who are in care homes or hospitals that prohibit aid in dying, it’s especially challenging for nonresidents.
When Oregon lifted its residency requirement, Blanke advertised on Craigslist and used the results to compile a list of short-term accommodations, including Airbnbs, willing to allow patients to die there. Nonprofits in states with aid-in-dying laws also maintain such lists, Sandeen said.
Milano hasn’t gotten to the point where she needs to find a place to take the meds and end her life. In fact, because she had a relatively healthy year after her first trip to Vermont, she let her six-month approval period lapse.
In June, though, she headed back to open another six-month window. This time, she went with a girlfriend who has a camper van. They drove six hours to cross the state border, stopping at a playground and gift shop before sitting in a parking lot where Milano had a Zoom appointment with her doctors rather than driving three more hours to Burlington to meet in person.
“I don’t know if they do GPS tracking or IP address kind of stuff, but I would have been afraid not to be honest,” she said.
That’s not all that scares her. She worries she’ll be too sick to return to Vermont when she is ready to die. And, even if she can get there, she wonders whether she’ll have the courage to take the medication. About one-third of people approved for assisted death don’t follow through, Blanke said. For them, it’s often enough to know they have the meds — the control — to end their lives when they want.
Milano said she is grateful she has that power now while she’s still healthy enough to travel and enjoy life. “I just wish more people had the option,” she said.