Traveling for Medical Care in a Global World

Abstract

The international medical travel of Yemenis provides insight on terminology and models to use for the growing global phenomenon. Terminology for medical travelers ranges from “medical tourists” to “medical exiles.” Differing models prioritize the global arena in which transnational medical travel occurs as (1) a global medical marketplace, (2) a global medical commons, (3) interlinked nation-states, and (4) national or global citizens. Medical anthropology has a specific role in uncovering the lived experiences of patients who travel to often unfamiliar destinations to pursue care believed capable of alleviating suffering.

Key Words:

• globalization
• medical commons
• medical marketplace
• medical tourism
• models
• terminology
• Yemen

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lenore Manderson, E. J. Sobo, and Andrea Whittaker helped refine my argument, as did the opportunity to present a keynote address at the First Annual Medical Tourism Research Conference in San Antonio, Texas, organized by David Vequist. I remain grateful to the Yemeni patients and family members who shared their experiences with me.

Notes

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/31/medicaltourism.pdf, accessed February 26, 2009.

The geo-mechanistic model of the body appearing on the websites of medical tourism agencies resembles the associations that Yemenis made between body parts and countries. Yemenis told me that patients went, for example, to India and Iraq for kidneys, Moscow for eyes, and Egypt for psychiatric disorders.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Beth Kangas

BETH KANGAS is Visiting Instructor in the Anthropology Department, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, and Special Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA. Her research interests in medical anthropology focus on ethical, economic, and emotional issues related to technological medicine.