Medical and birth tourism

Updated: June, 2024

Providing urgent or emergent care?

Physicians have a duty to provide urgent and emergent care to all patients, including non-residents and medical tourists. It does not matter why the patient is in Canada.

CMPA will generally assist you in the event a medico-legal case is brought in Canada or outside of Canada in response to urgent or emergent care.

Medical and birth tourism – contact the CMPA

CMPA assistance becomes complicated when the care provided is elective or the member is involved in soliciting (including advertising to) medical tourists.

Medical tourism (including birth tourism) occurs when Canadian physicians are involved in soliciting (including advertising to) non-Canadian residents to come to Canada for the purposes of receiving medical treatment (e.g. prescribing, perinatal care).

If you are providing elective services to non-Canadian residents or you are soliciting (including advertising to) medical tourists, contact CMPA for advice and guidance.

Principles of assistance

• Understand what constitutes a resident and a non-resident: Treating non-residents of Canada
• Prescribing to non-patients a risky activity

Other resources

• Governing Law and Jurisdiction Agreement (GLJA).
• Prescribing for non-residents: Know your risks
• Abortion services for non-residents
• Reduce your risks when treating non-residents: They can’t sue you from outside Canada, or can they?
• Non-residents seeking perinatal care—Inviting, soliciting, or pre-arranging (Joint Statement – CMPA and HIROC)