Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42859640›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical ethics and history of medicine2026

Ethical considerations regarding medical tourism in Iran: a qualitative study.

Nasrin Abbasi, Leila Afshar, Mehrzad Kiani, Shabnam Bazmi

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Article in Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Nasrin AbbasiPhD Candidate in Medical Ethics, Medical Ethics Department, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Leila AfsharProfessor, Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mehrzad KianiProfessor, Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Shabnam BazmiProfessor, Department of Medical Ethics, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The rapid growth of medical tourism, the provision of elective healthcare across borders, has raised complex ethical challenges. In Iran, the significant expansion of this industry can be attributed to advanced expertise and relatively low costs. This qualitative study examined the critical ethical issues in medical tourism in Iran through semi-structured interviews with purposively selected ethics scholars, managers, healthcare providers, facilitators, and international patients, using maximum variation sampling. Data were transcribed, analyzed, and refined through expert consensus, yielding 215 meaning units. Analyses revealed four thematic domains: rights and ethical entitlements of stakeholders; financial responsibility and economic equity; sociocultural determinants of ethical practice; and governance and regulatory accountability, with governance and regulation-particularly legislative gaps and weak coordination-emerging as the top ethical concern. Findings demonstrate the need for coherent policies and ethical frameworks to safeguard stakeholder rights, integrate ethics into planning, and align practices with both local values and global standards.

Indexed as

BioethicsHealth tourismMedical ethicsMedical tourismQualitative study.

Identifiers

PMID42859640
PMCPMC13653086

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.