The medical tourism comprises a number of risks that local medical service does not have. When problem arise, the patients may not be covered by insurance or able to get compensation via malpractice lawsuits. Few nations recently sought after as medical tourism destinations provide some type of legal cure for medical malpractice. But, these legal issues are unappealing to the medical tourist. Advocates of medical tourism recommend tourists to evaluate the unlikely legal challenges against the advantage of such a trip before undergoing any surgery abroad. People must be aware that the quality of post-operative care may also much dramatically, depending on the hospital and nation, and may be different from US or Western standards.

Few nations, such as India, Malaysia, Costa Rica have different infectious diseases than Europe and North America, and different prevalence of the same diseases compared to countries such as Canada, and U.K. Exposure to disease without having built up natural immunity may be a hazard for a weakened patients, specifically for gastrointestinal diseases (Hepatitis B, amoebic dysentery, paratyphoid) which could weaken progress, mosquito transmitted diseases, influenza. International hospital accreditation with Trent or JCI may be of value here when people are trying to choose a place for their procedure.

In medical tourism, traveling just after surgery can grow the risk of complications, as can vacation activities. For sample, scars may be darker and more noticeable if they sunburn while healing. Long flights may not recommend for those with heart or breathing related problems. To overcome these types of problems medical tourism people often combine their medical trips with vacation span set aside for rest and recovery in the destination nation. Every surgery contains some amount of risk. To minimize the risk of unsatisfactory results, professional associations urge patients to consider surgeons' training and credentials. Britain's The Telegraph newspaper counsels, "It is not enough that a surgeon, or hospital service, is adequate for the operation being contemplated; they should be proficient enough to cope with the worst situation complications as well, and to be able to offer, as an example, swift access to state of the art intensive care as and when needed."

North American people think medical tourism treatment riskier than local care. Legal means like malpractice are problematic in other jurisdictions in medical tourism. In practice, insurance packages may not cover complications stemming from patients overseas care service; as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons counsels, "Bargain surgery may be costly." Industry specialists counsel that the main areas of risk lie in travel complications. Air travel exposes people to disease vectors that may protract their recovery. So, too, can normal vacation activities such as drinking alcohol, or exercise, complicate healing of incisions and scars? Traveling just immediately after the surgery or dental interventions can increase patients' risk of complications in the case of medical tourism. Air traveling may disturb with patients' normal results to anesthetics or dental fillings. The ASPS warns that long flights may increase the risk of developing pulmonary embolism and blood clots, and suggests waiting five to seven more days after bodily process and seven to 10 days after aesthetic surgery on the face, before flying.

Once a patient is traveling to a foreign nation for care, he or she may face the risk of miscommunication resulting from a lack of familiarity with a foreign culture and language barriers. Due to all the risks involved, clients may want to have the option of canceling their procedure after they arrive in their destination nation without taking a huge financial hit.