The rise of medical tourism
Harvard Law School (HLS) Assistant Professor I. Glenn Cohen lay on a table in a South Korean hospital and tried to relax as a worker wearing a white shirt and black pants methodically drove his elbow into Cohen’s back. The massagelike form of chiropractic therapy was anything but relaxing, Cohen recalled. “It was the most rigorous massage I’ve ever had. There was no informed consent. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God, are they going to break my back?’ ” Fortunately, Cohen, who recently visited the hospital while researching a new book and was a willing test subject, left with his back intact and with fresh insights about medical tourism. The hospital, one of many springing up worldwide to attract foreign clients, specializes in combining Eastern and Western approaches to medicine. On the sixth floor, hundreds of pots of customized herbal teas simmered, ready to treat a range of maladies. Other floors were filled...