"Trapped" in Hong Kong after giving birth

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Hong Kong (CNN)Wendy Morrow, who was seven months pregnant, was ready to board the plane at the Hong Kong International Airport to visit her brother in Xiamen, China, but moments before she got to the gate -- her water broke.

Soon she found herself facing an unlikely predicament. With her U.S. health insurance not covering the mounting medical fees her newborn son requires, the hospital had initially withheld his birth certificate.

And without a birth certificate, the U.S. embassy cannot issue a passport for baby Kyuss to return home to Iowa. The baby's mother said they were told that they couldn't get the birth certificate until the hospital bill was paid in full.

Since the baby was born on May 7, the family has been stuck in Hong Kong. But on Friday, they received word that the hospital would issue a birth certificate for Kyuss on Saturday after receiving media attention.

"I cannot believe the hospital just called us and said they are releasing the birth certificate to us now!" Sara Morrow, the mother's sister told CNN in an email.

Kyuss, who was born 8 weeks early, now lies in an incubator in the special care unit at Princess Margaret Hospital. When he was born, his lungs were underdeveloped and he needed to be hooked to an oxygen tank.

150515154537-hong-kong-us-mom-baby-kyuss-incubator-exlarge-169.jpeg


Kyuss Morrow, a baby born 8 weeks early, lies in an incubator at Princess Margaret Hospital in Hong Kong.
"We don't like having the feeling of being stuck here. The pressure is on trying to get the medical bills paid and we just want to be able to go home with the baby," Morrow said.

CNN reached out to the hospital multiple times. Its spokesperson said they were working on an official statement, but it had not been sent by the time of publication.



Costly medical bills


With Kyuss receiving special medical care, the hospital bill has gone up to $20,000 and counting since he was admitted. Each day that he spends in the hospital costs another $1,600, according to Morrow.

The family reached out to the Congressman Steve King's office in the state of Iowa, who wrote to them in an email saying that Medicare/Medicaid health insurance would not be able to pay medical bills resulting from treatment in foreign hospitals.

One of their travel insurances would not cover it either because the baby was not named on the insurance -- something that the family finds to be baffling.

"How could we have put (his name) on it when the baby wasn't even born?" Morrow said.

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, told them in an email that his office would try to make an inquiry on the case.

In the meantime, the family has set up multiple fundraisers for medical expenses and additional costs related to their unplanned stay in Hong Kong.

Kyuss is slowly getting stronger, and doctors have told the family that he can be released in a week, and would be fit for flying. Doctors recommended that it would be best if a medical nurse could fly with them, along with a battery-operated oxygen machine in case he had trouble breathing in high altitudes.

Separated from their families, the only thing the Morrows say they can do, is wait.

"It's hard for both of us," Morrow said. "Wendy has a 4-year-old at home...I have four kids at home and we both run our own businesses."
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http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/asia/hong-kong-us-mother-baby-stranded/index.html

Cliffs:
- American visiting China delivers at 7 months (early, unexpected)
- Baby requires as anticipated respiratory and other support from being premature
- Chinese hospital suspects that American family will not pay bill (have American based insurance), so they demand payment prior to giving a birth certificate (required to get a passport for the baby in order to go home)
- American family write to congressmen and others to help
- Increased media attention pushes hospital to issue birth certificate

I'm torn, it is a bit dickish for the hospital to not issue a birth certificate, but running out on an expensive hospital bill to go to another country is kinda the same. If this were reversed, I'm sure most Americans would have a problem footing the bill for a foreign national's baby's ICU stay. Then again, with our current setup people do this in the US all the time and the hospitals eat the cost anyways, so maybe that is where the expectation should be...
 
Writing to congressmen? Seriously? What a tragedy considering that Congress is completely useless and inactive in essentially everything. But yeah, the case is pretty absurd and unfortunate.

I feel this thread is best suited for Allo.
 
I feel for them, it's not like she intentionally broke her water 8 weeks early. I don't think they were trying to game any system.
 
I can somewhat see the hospital's motivation (considering that healthcare is expensive and you want to get enough out of your services to be able to continue your work), but I don't think it's right to essentially hold a foreign national hostage by refusing to provide the proper paperwork. I'm not certain on specifics, but I believe part of the high cost of American hospitals is meant to offset the costs of patients who are treated in emergency situations, only to find out there's no way for them to pay later. There's no way to say whether Chinese hospitals have a habit of doing this either, though.

What do typical health insurance plans cover when it comes to international travel?
 
The fact that doesn't travel insurance doesn't cover this sort of stuff is baffling. I mean, it's not that surprising, but it is a type of medical care and you would somewhat expect it to be covered. The Morrows don't appear to have been irresponsible here.

If this had happened in the US, and the Morrows had non-employer sponsored insurance (which you generally have a period of time to retroactively add newborns), I presume they could have added their newborn to their insurance a month or two later still?
 
Hong Kong hospital, not Chinese hospital.
 
Why would you travel overseas near the completion of pregnancy; especially when the baby could be born between 7-9 months? Short term travel (by car) and work are fine but it is another thing to be hiking up a plane during your crucial months especially for a far away country. This is truly an act of not planning well. I feel that withholding certification is incorrect but just as the US healthcare won't pay for foreign costs; such is the reason for suspicion over whether or not the family would even pay their bills once they get on US soil.
 
I thought this was the Pre Medical section?
 
Tired said:
If this was a restaurant instead of a hospital, no one would blink an eye.

Shut up and pay the bill.
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Lol. #justmedstudentthings

**** off, lady had a baby in another country and she has American insurance, she was fully expecting to pay through her insurance when she delivered in America. I'm sure like most people she doesn't have the several grand just lying around to pay for surprise foreign soil premature births.
 
Hospitals shouldn't have to pay for every foreign citizen that comes through their door.

Governments should simply establish a protocol to cover for their own citizens who underwent urgent care while abroad -insurance or not-, and ask for reimbursement if necessary when the dust has settled. It's the most ethical way to proceed, imo.
 
Lucca said:
Lol. #justmedstudentthings

**** off, lady had a baby in another country and she has American insurance, she was fully expecting to pay through her insurance when she delivered in America. I'm sure like most people she doesn't have the several grand just lying around to pay for surprise foreign soil premature births.
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shadap. Unless she had a death in the family she should have no business traveling. If she does travel she better have the money in case she does have a pre mature birth.
 
Lucca said:
Lol. #justmedstudentthings

**** off, lady had a baby in another country and she has American insurance, she was fully expecting to pay through her insurance when she delivered in America. I'm sure like most people she doesn't have the several grand just lying around to pay for surprise foreign soil premature births.
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we don't even know the citizenship of this child as of yet. He will have to apply for that through his mother. I think there are serious law issues and as much as we want to think, immigration and the likes are very grim issues and not as if you can turn the slot and win yourself a lottery. This woman could be in a lot more trouble than some of the people already held up there. People naive enough to call trouble is a fault on its own but it is more troubling to see where the logic of the hospital follows. In a restaurant, when someone doesn't have money, they don't just serve more food to the customer. I understand this is a hospital setting and you provide to the patient no matter what but it is also understood from the article that the baby is not in any impending crisis. The mother can take the baby and nurture it right? So why is the hospital finding it necessary to charge both of them continuously. Clearly in a humanitarian perspective it is completely ridiculous that the hospital is charging $1600/day when the woman can start earning and paying back.
 
I think this ought to be able to be settled as a matter of hospitality. Someone gets in trouble while travelling, you help them. It is just the decent thing to do. Hopefully, they do the decent thing and pay you for the services. If not, that is on their karma, not yours. You did the righteous thing.

It is rather different than a restaurant. Human lives are a bit more valuable than an appetizers, no matter how artfully prepared, and people rarely need emergency dinner service.
 
Promethean said:
I think this ought to be able to be settled as a matter of hospitality. Someone gets in trouble while travelling, you help them. It is just the decent thing to do. Hopefully, they do the decent thing and pay you for the services. If not, that is on their karma, not yours. You did the righteous thing.

It is rather different than a restaurant. Human lives are a bit more valuable than an appetizers, no matter how artfully prepared, and people rarely need emergency dinner service.
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And I can guarantee you that thousands of foreign citizens will start flying to Hong Kong for "leisure" or "travel" on the day before they're expected to go into labor, or after they've had X medical condition that could pass as urgent and costs much $$$ to alleviate.
 
Doudline said:
And I can guarantee you that thousands of foreign citizens will start flying to Hong Kong for "leisure" or "travel" on the day before they're expected to go into labor, or after they've had X medical condition that could pass as urgent and costs much $$$ to alleviate.
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You cannot make that guarantee. At best, it is an assertion, and it is pretty unrealistic.

International travel is not cheap and undergoing serious health crises in foreign places because it might be less expensive seems like a kind of false economy that will only be taken up by those in the most desperate circumstances... in which case, aiding them again becomes the humane thing to do.

For you to be correct, there would have to be no place in the world where a traveller in distress could expect medical aid, or else that place would be inundated. Why aren't Americans flocking to Denmark to have babies? They are among the nations that explicitly guarantee free emergency medical care, including obstetric care, to non citizens travelling in their country. Having a baby in the US averages around $10000 for a normal, uncomplicated delivery, or closer to $15000 for a caesarian... You could have a really nice vacation in Denmark for a lot less than $10k if you went when you were 8 months gone, and still come out ahead. And, based on infant mortality figures, it would seem that they could get even better care in Denmark than here.

EDIT: Forgot to link sources....

http://studyindenmark.dk/live-in-denmark/health-safety/healthcare

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/h...stliest-in-the-world.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I didn't actually have to look very hard for that example. There are many places in the world with more humanitarian health care systems than the US or China.
 
This story reminds me of one time while I was shadowing. A woman from Saudi Arabia came to visit her sister in the US, she was 8 months pregnant. She no longer felt the baby kicking (going on 24 hours) and came to the ER. Unfortunately, due to her religion she would not allow a male doctor to examine her and the only doctors in the ER were male, as well as the on-call ob/gyn. This was towards the end of the shift I was shadowing, I know she was admitted to the Mother/Baby unit, but I'm not sure whether she delivered the baby or not.
 
Doudline said:
And I can guarantee you that thousands of foreign citizens will start flying to Hong Kong for "leisure" or "travel" on the day before they're expected to go into labor, or after they've had X medical condition that could pass as urgent and costs much $$$ to alleviate.
Click to expand...

I come from a country in Eastern Europe where it is unimaginable to deny emergency medical services to people whether they are citizens of the country or not. The hospitals are NOT flooding with foreign nationals however. I am shocked that some people do not share the notion that every human deserves certain medical services provided to them: especially the unborn babies that happened to be in a country with extremely capitalized healthcare.
 
Tired said:
Yes, very sad.

Fact remains she left the country while very pregnant (yes, 7 months is "very pregnant"). She used a mess of hospital resources. It's very reasonable to expect people to pay their bills. If she doesn't have the cash, she needs to work out a payment plan. There's nothing unreasonable about what the Chinese government and the hospital are doing here.
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They aren't even giving her the opportunity to work out a payment plan. They are holding the child's birth certificate hostage, and that isn't just unreasonable.... it is a human rights issue.

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Especially note Articles: 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15.... oh, Hell, I'm losing count of the number of ways this action is deplorable.
 
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Tired said:
Which right is that? The right to have a birth certificate issued by a foreign government?
Click to expand...

Figured I could count on you to be dense, so I went back and edited with a link to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Which China is not well known for abiding.

A child was born in a human society. As a human being, they are entitled to the formal recognition of their birth. Do you seriously want to live in a world where that isn't at least the minimum standard for civility?
 
Tired said:
Yawn. Maybe you should petition the UN.

In the meantime, let me know which portion of the Universal Declaration covers working for free. Easy to focus on the American lady with the baby, and ignore the faceless Chinese workers. Or should they just have gotten used to working for nothing?
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Article 1 -
  • All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
They don't even know for sure that the family will skip out on the bill. They are just assuming that it will happen that way, and proactively depriving the child and family of their rights. That isn't brotherhood.

Again, I prefer to live in a world where I am happy to help people in need from time to time, with no expectation of compensation, in the hope that if I fall into distress, that someone will help me in turn.
 
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Tired said:
Yawn. Maybe you should petition the UN.

In the meantime, let me know which portion of the Universal Declaration covers working for free. Easy to focus on the American lady with the baby, and ignore the faceless Chinese workers. Or should they just have gotten used to working for nothing?
Click to expand...
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman
 
I'm pretty sure no one cares about toothless UN nonsense. That's not how the world works. Services aren't free.

That said, witholding the birth certificate is a bit rash. If she didn't pay they could have sued, although international suits aren't exactly ironclad.
 
Blue Blood said:
I'm pretty sure no one cares about toothless UN nonsense. That's not how the world works. Services aren't free.

That said, witholding the birth certificate is a bit rash. If she didn't pay they could have sued, although international suits aren't exactly ironclad.
Click to expand...

Thinking that everyone sees the world through the same prism is not how it actually is, either. I have never. ever. heard anyone make an argument that obstetrics care is a "service" that you can't receive without paying until I moved here and watched Fox News. What I do remember is learning about the UN preamble and luckily enough there are governments which regard it more seriously than "toothless nonsense".

You don't even have to go very far, to find that there are systems that are more humanitarian than ours.
http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...lobal-medical-record-shames-us-blockade-ebola
 
allantois said:
Thinking that everyone sees the world through the same prism is not how it actually is, either. I have never. ever. heard anyone make an argument that obstetrics care is a "service" that you can't receive without paying until I moved here and watched Fox News. What I do remember is learning about the UN preamble and luckily enough there are governments which regard it more seriously than "toothless nonsense".

You don't even have to go very far, to find that there are systems that are more humanitarian than ours.
http://www.theguardian.com/commenti...lobal-medical-record-shames-us-blockade-ebola
Click to expand...

Did you seriously just use an extremely repressive communist country as an example of a "humanitarian" country?
 
Promethean said:
Yeah. Isn't it sad that they are outpacing us in that regard?
Click to expand...

From that far far left article's perspective I suppose. It was so biased it was a bit ridiculous.

But since you're such an upstanding citizen, I bet as soon as you finish residency you'll leave the US, never repay your loans (it's only the humanitarian thing to do), and do overseas unpaid volunteer work for the rest of your life. blah blah blah yada yada yada.

Get real. There's a reason Venezuela and Cuba are both broke and falling apart and it has nothing to do with an embargo on Cuba. Total socialism doesn't work. Nothing in life is free. Considering this hospital is in Hong Kong which is, as a few years years ago, part of a communist China, your argument has no merit.
 
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There needs to be a balance between looking out for the good of others, and understanding that things simply aren't free (not because humans are just greedy business people, but because you actually need to get a return to continue providing services). This isn't really the thread to discuss the pros and cons of America's healthcare system - we could write pages and pages about this topic elsewhere.

I think the issue at hand, pertaining to this Chinese hospital's actions, centers less on the fact that they wanted to get paid for their service and more on the fact that they used back-handed methods to try and secure said payment. The nature of healthcare makes the financial aspect more difficult because it essentially requires prices to be set for lifesaving services. Can one really try to determine how much one human life is worth? At the same time, however, the powerful technology and knowledge employed by healthcare professionals required financial input towards its attainment, and the services stemming from those advancements will require financial input in order to remain viable.

Because medical care is often urgently required, the emphasis is placed on providing the service first and worrying about the payment later. Unfortunately, this places many people in the awkward situation this couple and this hospital found themselves in - the service has already been given, and payment is needed to get a return and maintain the ability to provide similar services. I'm not aware of any clear cut solution to this, especially when the situation involved a foreign citizen in a hospital far from their home country. There are a number of things such as travel insurance or upgraded insurance policies, but if the couple in question didn't have these, the problem remains.

I personally feel that denying a birth certificate outright based on suspicions of lack of payment was a drastic action. I would expect the hospital to thoroughly explain how payment works and to discuss with the family whether they had payment options. However, I'm not aware if dialogue occurred between the family and the hospital staff in which the couple initially refused to pay; something like this could make the action of denying a certificate more understandable in context. I also think a debt repayment arrangement could possibly have been explored, in which the family would be allowed to return home but would owe some form of payment to the hospital. I don't know enough about the way debt is handled between individuals and organizations of differing nationalities to know whether this would have been viable or not. Anybody have any input on some of these alternative ideas?
 
UNMedGa said:
I think the issue at hand, pertaining to this Chinese hospital's actions, centers less on the fact that they wanted to get paid for their service and more on the fact that they used back-handed methods to try and secure said payment. The nature of healthcare makes the financial aspect more difficult because it essentially requires prices to be set for lifesaving services. Can one really try to determine how much one human life is worth? At the same time, however, the powerful technology and knowledge employed by healthcare professionals required financial input towards its attainment, and the services stemming from those advancements will require financial input in order to remain viable.
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Thanks for bringing us back to the point.

The hospital is right about the risk that the family could just leave the country and fail to pay their bill. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to collect the debt should they decide not to pay once they come home.

I'm not saying that the hospital doesn't deserve to be paid, or that they should just count on giving away their services for free. I am saying that in this exceptional situation, writing off a financial loss is preferable to what they are doing. Withholding a birth certificate is drastic, and back-handed, and amounts to holding the child hostage.

There are other alternatives. They could have pursued debt collection efforts across national borders. There are a number of international debt collection agencies, and the costs of involving the third party could have been passed along to the family. The laws work both ways... just as it is harder to collect a debt across national boundaries, so do consumer protection laws stop there. The hospital could be more aggressive in its pursuit of payment than any American credit card company and the family would have no recourse to stop the harassment other than to pay the bill.

But this assumes that the family would act in bad faith in the first place. There is no reason to believe that they were planning on stiffing the hospital, at least not before the facility began acting in bad faith. Just the act of holding the baby for ransom might change the family's perception of the staff there from lifesavers to kidnappers, which stands to irrevocably damage the relationship. At this point, if the family does get the birth certificate and returns home, they are less likely to pay up than they were before.
 
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Promethean said:
Article 1 -
  • All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
They don't even know for sure that the family will skip out on the bill. They are just assuming that it will happen that way, and proactively depriving the child and family of their rights. That isn't brotherhood.

Again, I prefer to live in a world where I am happy to help people in need from time to time, with no expectation of compensation, in the hope that if I fall into distress, that someone will help me in turn.
Click to expand...
Tell the bolded to racists and cops. See what they think.
 
Promethean said:
Thanks for bringing us back to the point.

The hospital is right about the risk that the family could just leave the country and fail to pay their bill. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to collect the debt should they decide not to pay once they come home.

I'm not saying that the hospital doesn't deserve to be paid, or that they should just count on giving away their services for free. I am saying that in this exceptional situation, writing off a financial loss is preferable to what they are doing. Withholding a birth certificate is drastic, and back-handed, and amounts to holding the child hostage.

There are other alternatives. They could have pursued debt collection efforts across national borders. There are a number of international debt collection agencies, and the costs of involving the third party could have been passed along to the family. The laws work both ways... just as it is harder to collect a debt across national boundaries, so do consumer protection laws stop there. The hospital could be more aggressive in its pursuit of payment than any American credit card company and the family would have no recourse to stop the harassment other than to pay the bill.

But this assumes that the family would act in bad faith in the first place. There is no reason to believe that they were planning on stiffing the hospital, at least not before the facility began acting in bad faith. Just the act of holding the baby for ransom might change the family's perception of the staff there from lifesavers to kidnappers, which stands to irrevocably damage the relationship. At this point, if the family does get the birth certificate and returns home, they are less likely to pay up than they were before.
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I agree - withholding the birth certificate just seems like they surpassed a lot of their viable options for securing payment. Even partial payment would have been preferable. If there are ways to collect debt across international borders, I do believe the hospital should have discussed options with the family first and then pursued something along this track.

Spinach Dip said:
^The summary of the current American healthcare crisis in 1 sentence.
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Yes - the biggest issue that I perceive is that each side wants their plan, which centers on one of the two philosophies I mentioned with little regard for the other. There doesn't seem to be much interest in bipartisan solutions that balance the two ideas. There's a lot more detail I could go into elsewhere regarding this.
 
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Tired said:
There are few things more amusing than people who come here for the opportunity, experience, money, or chance to work in cutting-edge environments, and immediately begin crapping on American attitudes and systems. Of course it never occurred to you that our viewpoints like "healthcare isn't a human right" or "the UN is a bunch of toothless fools" actually creates a competitive environment that breeds innovation and pushes us forward faster.

I won't be so gauche as to suggest that, if we suck so much, you might be happier elsewhere. But perhaps you should consider what it was that made you travel here in the first place. Although I'm sure high-speed broadband is limited in many parts of Eastern Europe, even a dial-up modem would be good enough to drop posts on SDN extolling the virtues of failed socialist systems.
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lolol, the US is innovative and successful...that's a good one!
We're a disgrace, a squabbling, bickering nation whose government is so caught up in inter-party rivalry that it can barely function. We throw away a ridiculous amount of money on inefficient or wasteful pursuits. We rank horribly compared to other first-world countries when it comes to pretty much everything but military spending (which is not something to be proud of). If we happen to see a fair bit of progress, well, we have a bigger population gambling on success; even at a low rate, a few of us are bound to pop up on the good side.

If not for my family, I would live elsewhere...there are plenty of countries out there with better everything than the good ol' US of A. Unfortunately, I have a mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cute baby cousins who I want to see more than once every few years. Uprooting to another continent isn't something you just spontaneously decide to do without considering the people you love/who love you.

Edited because some people really like their country, and I decided I was being a tool to rant about it.
Edit2 replaced my original text (or close enough) because it had already been quoted and I hate threads where people try to edit out what they've said. They're super confusing
 
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Hong Kong isn't a bad place to live, I'm sure they'd be fine. 😉
 
mehc012 said:
lolol, the US is innovative and successful...that's a good one!
We're a disgrace, a squabbling, bickering nation whose government is so caught up in inter-party rivalry that it can barely function. We throw away a ridiculous amount of money on inefficient or wasteful pursuits. We rank horribly compared to other first-world countries when it comes to pretty much everything but military spending (which is not something to be proud of). If we happen to see a fair bit of progress, well, we have a bigger population gambling on success; even at a low rate, a few of us are bound to pop up on the good side.
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There are plenty of people who seem to disagree given the fact that so many people immigrate here, even illegally if necessary.
 
mehc012 said:
Better than a non-developed country? Sure.
Better than most developed countries? Heelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll naw.
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Depends. If you're focusing on one issue like healthcare, yes. If you're focusing on things like economics, ability to start and run a business, civil freedoms, etc. - it's not quite so clear-cut.
 
NickNaylor said:
Depends. If you're focusing on one issue like healthcare, yes. If you're focusing on things like economics, ability to start and run a business, civil freedoms, etc. - it's not quite so clear-cut.
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We actually are not at the top of the pack for things like civil liberties, economic freedom, etc. either. On civil liberties, we rank lowest out of all fully democratic nations.
https://rankingamerica.wordpress.com/how-does-the-united-states-rank-in/

(Yes, it's a blog...but it tells you which studies it is referencing. If you look at any individual one of those, I imagine there is a lot to talk about on methodology, some alternative measures, etc., but the blog is nice just as a collection for big picture. Thus far, I've only looked in depth at the civil liberties study, because that one surprised me.)
 
We should probably start a separate American Healthcare/America Sucks/Doesn't Suck debate thread. This is getting a bit out of hand.

Chinese hospital, guys. This has nothing to do with America's place in the world.
 
UNMedGa said:
We should probably start a separate American Healthcare/America Sucks/doesn't suck debate thread. This is getting a bit out of hand.

Chinese hospital, guys
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Yup, that's why I tried to edit mine out, but I was too slow. It's only been a few posts, though, and seems to have settled.
 
mehc012 said:
Yup, that's why I tried to edit mine out, but I was too slow. It's only been a few posts, though, and seems to have settled.
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Makes sense. These sorts of discussions can get out of hand pretty quickly, especially with polarizing political subjects. I have to resist the temptation to argue with people a lot of the time, haha
 
Promethean said:
You cannot make that guarantee. At best, it is an assertion, and it is pretty unrealistic.

International travel is not cheap and undergoing serious health crises in foreign places because it might be less expensive seems like a kind of false economy that will only be taken up by those in the most desperate circumstances... in which case, aiding them again becomes the humane thing to do.

For you to be correct, there would have to be no place in the world where a traveller in distress could expect medical aid, or else that place would be inundated. Why aren't Americans flocking to Denmark to have babies? They are among the nations that explicitly guarantee free emergency medical care, including obstetric care, to non citizens travelling in their country. Having a baby in the US averages around $10000 for a normal, uncomplicated delivery, or closer to $15000 for a caesarian... You could have a really nice vacation in Denmark for a lot less than $10k if you went when you were 8 months gone, and still come out ahead. And, based on infant mortality figures, it would seem that they could get even better care in Denmark than here.

EDIT: Forgot to link sources....

http://studyindenmark.dk/live-in-denmark/health-safety/healthcare

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/h...stliest-in-the-world.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I didn't actually have to look very hard for that example. There are many places in the world with more humanitarian health care systems than the US or China.
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I have little time to read extensive documentation, but if it's not happening in Denmark despite the claimed circumstances, it can only be caused by externalities which makes the possibility more costly than by delivering in their own country.

It's very simple. If the opportunity cost to travel to X country and deliver there is less than that of delivering in your own country, people will do it most of the time.
 
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