Background: Medical tourism is a growing global trend offering both benefits and challenges to healthcare systems. While it can boost service quality and economic outcomes, it raises important ethical concerns.
Objectives: This study aims to identify ethical considerations in medical tourism and provide actionable recommendations for policymakers to promote responsible and effective practices.
Methods: A systematized review was undertaken using PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, and official reports, without restrictions on date or location. Thirty-six documents were selected, including 33 peer-reviewed articles, 2 reports, and 1 scholarly book. Selection followed clear inclusion and exclusion criteria focusing on ethical dimensions as well as methodologies. The ethical codes were extracted and grouped into five main themes and fifteen subthemes, providing a structured overview of cross-border healthcare ethics. The analysis included four key study terms to ensure comprehensive coverage of perspectives on medical tourism ethics.
Results: Ethical considerations fell into five main themes. Stakeholders’ rights, particularly patient rights, were most prominent, encompassing 156 codes. Resource allocation captured financial and non-financial aspects, while financial considerations included patient costs, insurance, and government support. Cultural, political, and social factors influenced ethical practices, and policy-making covered legal frameworks, administrative efficiency, and ethical governance. Overall, 276 ethical codes were analyzed, highlighting the complexity of ethical issues in medical tourism.
Conclusion: Ethical challenges in medical tourism are context-dependent, with patient rights as the dominant concern. Policymakers should integrate ethics at all stages in order to ensure fair, safe, and culturally sensitive practices. Ongoing national and international guidelines are required, tailored to each country’s context.