Today's guest is Dr. Dennis Orgill, award-winning Professor of Surgery at Harvard University and Director of the Wound Care Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.  Dr. Orgill recently reported an increase in the number of patients coming to the hospital with complications from cosmetic surgeries performed abroad. Medical tourism may seem like an inexpensive way to have certain procedures, but the complications can be very serious as well as costly.  Therese and Dr. Orgill discuss the problems observed in returning medical tourism patients.

 

 Key Takeaways:

• Common procedures sought abroad include breast augmentation and abdominoplasty. 
• While foreign countries have many excellent cosmetic surgeons, some have no regulations and clinics are substandard in a number of ways.
• Medical tourism websites present very positive before and after images and the average patient is unaware of what safety standards govern a particular clinic.
• Infections, many highly resistant to antibiotics, and failure of wounds to heal, are the most common medical issues seen in returning patients in the Boston area. 

 

"If you go outside the US, in many countries, they do not have the same infrastructure, the same quality control mechanisms that we have to assure safety." —  Dr. Dennis Orgill

 

Connect with Dr. Dennis Orgill:

Brigham & Women’s Hospital Bio: Dennis Paul Orgill, MD, PhD   

 

 

Connect with Therese:

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

 

 

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