PORTLAND, Ore. – Victoria Rice was tired of battling her weight.

So the 40-something did what millions of Americans now do in the face of skyrocketing U.S. healthcare costs: She sought medical treatment outside the U.S.

It's been dubbed "medical tourism," and one estimate says six million Americans will take part in it by 2010.

Rice went to the Obesity Control Center in Tijuana, Mexico, where Dr. Ariel Ortiz performed a popular weight loss operation that was supposed to shrink her stomach.

The Longview, Wash., woman paid $8,500 for the "Lap-Band" surgery, including airfare and a stay at a Tijuana hotel. It would have cost two to three times more in the U.S.

But she woke up after the surgery in pain.

"I took their word for it that the band was in place properly on the X-ray," she said. "And I just wanted to go home."

But back home in southwest Washington things got worse.

She ended up at Oregon Health and Science University under the care of Dr. Robert Martindale, chief of general surgery.

"It looks like the band had slipped and caused a pinching of the wrong part of the stomach," he said.

The band should be placed around the stomach in a way that creates a small upper pouch and narrowed outlet (SEE IMAGE BELOW), reducing the amount of food a person can eat and making the patient feel full sooner.

Martindale called Rice's situation life-threatening.

"The band would have rubbed on the stomach wall and eventually rubbed through the wall of the stomach," the doctor said.

After getting her lap band removed, Rice's health problems went away.

Martindale and other colleagues say they do a surgery similar to Rice's about once a month on patients who go to Mexico for medical treatment.

"They're desperate these people," said Dr. Cliff Deveney, another OHSU surgeon. "If they don't get a complication, everything is fine and that's really nice. If they get a complication, it's devastating to them because their insurance will still not pay for it. Even if it's life-threatening, they won't pay for it."

The Medical Tourism Association, an international non-profit, recommends that people gain an understanding of what their insurance will pay for if something goes wrong overseas. Patients should also learn their legal rights in a foreign country before deciding to go, the association says.

"You need to evaluate the doctor's certification, the number of procedures that they've done, relevant to the percentage of positive outcomes that they've had," said Renee-Marie Stephano, the association's chief operating officer.

In Rice's situation, her Portland surgeons have been unable to get her medical records back from the Mexican clinic. And, of course, she has not gotten any money back.

Rice said her bills have reached $30,000, and the last time she heard from the doctor in Mexico was back in February.

"You need to behave honorably towards your patients," she said. "And I don't feel like they've done that."

When KATU called the clinic on her behalf and pressed officials, they finally got back to her with a promise of a settlement.

The Medical Tourism Association recommends overseas clinics that are accredited by the same organization that checks out American hospitals. LEARN MORE
 
There are only three such clinics in Mexico, and the Obesity Control Center that did Rice's surgery is not on the list.