Thrifty patients pay price with botched surgery

Something to think about before traveling over the border...especially if one has any chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, etc. as these conditions may require special monitoring and sometimes at a reduced cost and availability of medical equipment as facilities, something could be missed or eliminated in the process...BD

In the border city of Tijuana, most patients in some hospitals are American. Most come from California for dental work and plastic surgery that isn’t covered by insurance. This month, Tijuana’s medical community announced an initiative to encourage even more patients to cross the border.
The U.S. Embassy warns that while elective surgery may be cheaper in Mexico, “facilities may lack access to sufficient emergency support.”
And when things go wrong, seeking redress can be next to impossible. Class-action lawsuits — a foundation of consumer protection in the United States — don’t exist in Mexico, and the judicial system remains plagued by corruption and bureaucratic inertia. Operating on a patient with diabetes and hypertension requires careful testing and monitoring, even when the most qualified plastic surgeons are involved, according to Dr. James Wells of Long Beach, Calif., former president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.