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Old 09-09-2018, 08:57 AM   #1
Dr. Beckenstein
 
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Default TL and Medical Tourism

TL in the setting vary from planet to planet, f.e., Lunion (SM 2124) is at TL 10, neighboring Derchon (SM 2024) is at TL 7.

That means that people on Derchon can suffer from crippling or life-threatening illnesses or injuries that on Lunion simply do not exist or a rather minor nuisance.

Interstellar travel is fast and cheap, so "medical tourism" will be a reason why people from Derchon will visit Lunion. Probably, there will be hotels, clinics or doctors on Lunion who have specialized in treating patients like this.

This upon up some possibilities.

To the government of Derchon, it could be tempting to save money on expensive hospitals. Simply put the sick in low berth and store them, until you have enough to fill empty space on the next free trader.
The problem - in the next frontier war, when interstellar travel is cut short, you will have a lot of sick people who cannot leave the planet.

To an employer on Derchon, it could be an option to pay the trip of a needed specialist to Lunion so that he is back in three weeks instead of to debit his health care months or years.

To the doctors on Lunion, it would give them a steady stream of patients.

To free traders and space lanes, it would mean a steady stream of passengers.

So, what else would come out of this?
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Old 09-09-2018, 09:28 AM   #2
tanksoldier
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

The funny thing is, in the real world, medical tourism often works the other way around.

People from lower tech countries do come to the US for treatment but usually are sponsored by some charity because of the cost of treatment. The average person from a Nairobi can’t afford to travel to the US, stay here and pay for treatment. Only the wealthy or sponsored can do it.

...and keep in mind the several discussions here about how money from a TL-7 planet isn’t worth as much as money from a TL-10 planet.

However US citizens far more often travel to other countries for treatment because it’s cheaper. If you don’t need absolute cutting edge tech to fix your problem, going to a lower tech and thus cheaper area for treatment becomes an option. Also, it may provide options for treatment that aren’t available due to regulation or ethical issues.

I expect that medical tourism in Traveller would involve more people traveling to lower tech planets to receive less expensive treatment that can be effectively provided at that tech level... especially plastic surgery.

Last edited by tanksoldier; 09-09-2018 at 09:41 AM.
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Old 09-09-2018, 11:04 AM   #3
hal
 
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Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Another possibility that might evolve would be a variation of the Doctors without Borders concept. Instead however, they purchase a jump ship, hire a crew, but furnish the ship with state of the art medical equipment and supplies and even possibly, the means to manufacture low requirements medical supplies.

If you wan to get "crazy about it" so to speak, take a hard look at the Modular Cutter series of designs. Imagine being able to have what amounts to a mini-MASH module that can be transported to various worlds at need, and when no longer necessary, be picked up and transported to another world with a minimal of fuss.

Hmmm. Might need to try my hand at designing a mobile hospital unit and post it on my thread on ships...

Just out of curiosity, what would be the minimal staff you'd want to see for a mobile hospital unit? Since each "module" will contain its own energy production, have its own surgical theaters, have its own secure medical supply area (as cargo bay areas as well as secure sleeping quarters in the form of staterooms - what would you want to see overall?

I could even envision the ability to have specialized mobile vehicular recovery vehicles in the same vein as the role helicopters have today. Having the ability to create trans-atmospheric vehicles might even permit people on the wrong side of the world, being able to access medical care quickly via a fast pinnace with a 4G acceleration. When minutes count, the pinnace arrives quickly.

Possibly the only real limitation to this kind of medical service might be the need for specialists.

So - devise your "wish list" of absolutely MUST haves, a list of those "would be nice to have" and some sort of operational budget required. I could almost see something like this being funded by the subsector Nobles for those worlds whose population rating is insufficient to be able to fund those fancy hospitals.

Something to think about.
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Old 09-09-2018, 11:31 AM   #4
hal
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Just a quickie for you, this was created via GURPS MODULAR VEHICLES (freely available for download if you want it). Unlike the original Medical Module from GURPS TRAVELLER MODULAR CUTTER book, this one has an operating theater in it (good for two patients) plus a Military Sickbay. Because this unit is supposed to be capable of operating separately from ships power, I gave it its own engineering section so as to provide the energy core power system required. The bunk room permits up to 16 people to sleep in it, but usually handles four. This could be used as a place for people to stay if necessary, for registered nurses or medical technicians. This fits into a 30 dton hull that would be standard for a modular cutter to employ. While 3 dtons may not seem like a lot of room for stores, one could easily remove the air raft area entirely, and gain more storage space.

Note that this module could be transported on any vessel and simply used on worlds where it is needed. An entire medical facility could be created such that some modules have labs in them instead of medic bays or operating theaters or what have you. Note too, that this facility has a DR of 100 against small arms fire and the like. ;)


Crew: 3 Total. 2 Medical, 1 Flight Crew.

Hull: 30-ton VGSL, non Lifting Body, Medium Frame, Standard Materials, Crystaliron (Expensive) Armored Hull (DR 100), Standard Compartmentalization.

Engineering: Sm Engineering/10, Small Utility/10.

Accommodations: 2 Stateroom/10, Bunk Room/10, Operating Theater/10 (2 Patients), Military Sickbay/10 (4 Patients), 2 Low Berth/ 9 (8 Cryoberths).

Stores: 2 Vehicle Bay/ 7 (Air Raft[.051960], 0.5 dtons for small craft available). 3 Hold

Statistics: DMass 52.15 stons, EMass 52.15 stons, LMass 52.15 stons, Base Cost MCr1.96, Load Cost MCr0.05, Total Cost MCr2.01, HP 6,000, Damage Threshold 600, Size Mod +7, HT 12, 6.7 Man-Hours/day Maintenance.
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Old 09-09-2018, 11:37 AM   #5
Flyndaran
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Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
...
However US citizens far more often travel to other countries for treatment because it’s cheaper. If you don’t need absolute cutting edge tech to fix your problem, going to a lower tech and thus cheaper area for treatment becomes an option. Also, it may provide options for treatment that aren’t available due to regulation or ethical issues.

I expect that medical tourism in Traveller would involve more people traveling to lower tech planets to receive less expensive treatment that can be effectively provided at that tech level... especially plastic surgery.
I think you know that's not the main reason Americans go out of country for medical procedures. The reason is purely due to our jacked up prices and lack of national healthcare. So while certainly possible for one or more Traveller planets to suffer similarly, it's not really an issue of TL alone.
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Old 09-09-2018, 01:13 PM   #6
tanksoldier
 
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Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
I think you know that's not the main reason Americans go out of country for medical procedures. The reason is purely due to our jacked up prices and lack of national healthcare.
I pretty much said straight out it’s because it’s cheaper, but thanks for playing.

...and thanks for adding pointless current politics to a thread about a society hundreds or thousands of years in the future... which notably doesn’t have national healthcare either.

Quote:
So while certainly possible for one or more Traveller planets to suffer similarly, it's not really an issue of TL alone.
I don’t think all the starlets headed to Mexico for boob jobs are covered by Mexico’s national healthcare system... and you’ll note that the country most people DO come to when they need the best care, is the one without the national health care system.

...and if you’d like to know what national healthcare is really like, go qualify to be treated by the VA and then die in the parking lot waiting for an appointment while they repeatedly cancel them so their attendance records look good. Have a heart attack in a hospital bed there while nurses laugh about the fact that none of them know how to use a crash cart.

...and watch those employees responsible for the deaths of patients keep their jobs because they are federal employees and immune from firing.

I qualify for the VA and would rather pay out of pocket than soil the soles of my shoes by setting foot in the place.

...but the POINT is, in Traveller, if a given lower tech planet can do a procedure at their tech level it will be cheaper than the same procedure on a high tech planet for a number of reasons. The only reason to have most procedures done on a high tech planet is if you’re already there and the procedure is so trivial that it’s not worth the trip, or if the procedure can only be done at the higher tech level.

Quote:
Another possibility that might evolve would be a variation of the Doctors without Borders concept.
I have actually wondered about starships with sickbay facilities setting up medical practice in the extraterritorial starport areaespecially in under developed planets.

Last edited by tanksoldier; 09-09-2018 at 01:28 PM.
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Old 09-09-2018, 02:29 PM   #7
cptbutton
 
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Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Quote:
Originally Posted by tanksoldier View Post
I have actually wondered about starships with sickbay facilities setting up medical practice in the extraterritorial starport areaespecially in under developed planets.
GURPS Traveller Starports has a sidebar "The Starport as Hospital" about how the starport may have the only good medical facility on the planet, and that the Imperium de facto subsidizes this as part of frontier development.

Of course, for Class 1 or 2 starports there won't be a hospital unless it was explicitly added for the reason above.

Adventure seed or random encounter: A ship lands on Class 1 or worse starport planet and people desperate from medical help come to the ship hoping they can help.

ObSF: Four Day Planet by H. Beam Piper, where the overbuilt starport is the only hospital on a planet with 40,000 people or so.

Another reason for medical tourism is to get treatments, services, or implants which are illegal or highly restricted on your home planet. Because of ethical or religious reasons, or social restrictions, etc.
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Old 09-09-2018, 06:07 PM   #8
ravenfish
 
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Default Re: TL and Medical Tourism

Does the phenomenon of people traveling from a developed to a less developed country in search of cheaper health care occur in countries other than the United States? More to the point, how do the time, difficulty, and expense of crossing the Rio Grande compare to those of crossing interstellar space? If, on a given planet, red tape and and excessive concern for safety (neither of which necessarily correlate with development or tech level) interfere with practice there, could one simply set up a clinic in orbit rather than hauling people between the stars? This last has the advantage that one now has a space station full of unethical doctors- the adventure possibilities practically write themselves.

Still, that's rather a different sort of adventure than the OP was thinking of. Sticking with his idea, possible complications for the adventure include the obvious medical tropes. "The voyage will take longer than planned unless one can pull off this bit of difficult piloting, can the patient on life support be kept alive?" is a classic. Contagious diseases are always fun, whether trying to keep them from spreading in the tightly enclosed quarters of a spaceship (or, in games that run more to Star Trek, trying to muster enough rubber science to cure one that has already spread throughout the ship before everyone dies of it), or trying to smuggle someone suffering from one through quarantine to reach treatment.
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