Medical Malpractice From Foreign Care?

Brooks Schuelke

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Yesterday's Miami Herald had an article about a recent trend of American and Canadian citizens seeking medical care in foreign countries, particularly Cuba. The entire article was interesting, but this quote about potential medical malpractice stuck out:

René Rodriguez, a Cuban-born physician now living in Miami, thinks Cuba would be a ''lousy place'' to have surgery. ``If anything happens to them there, what are they going to do? The doctors there are not responsible. We have a legal system that makes doctors responsible.''

I thought the quote was ironic. Physicians and others in the medical industry are spending millions lobbying state and federal governments to limit their exposure for medical malpractice claims. But now, when there is a possiblity that dollars spent on medical care start flowing out of the country, the right to bring a malpractice claim is suddenly a critical part of our medical system? I don't remember any physicians touting the importance of medical malpractice claims when Prop 12 was being debated in Texas.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.