Or worse, this could happen. I went several years without taking good care of my teeth because of a lack of insurance, but I was never so desperate to go across the border to get my teeth worked on. Fortunately, I have really good teeth, that just neededed a little bit of maintenance to make up for those years of "neglect."

(By the way, the information on the link is outdated. The person in question was released years ago.)

I understand why someone would engage in some medical tourism... but not to Juarez.

So what did that guy do Fayd? It doesn't say why he's in jail, just his parents saying he's innocent and then all about them and how hard it is to visit.

My husband was almost kidnapped by Mexican police in Nuevo Laredo in the early '90's- before it was "really" bad. He lived in Laredo at the time, and was dating a girl whose family was prominent on the other side of the border. He drove a Mustang, and was going somewhere on the Mexican side of the border when they pulled him over. They cuffed him and "searched" his car and came back with a gallon-sized bag of weed they claimed they had found in his car. The police had already called for another cop to come pick up the mustang (which is what he assumed they wanted), when one of the cops asked Husband what he was going to do in jail. He mentioned that he'd call (girlfriend's dad), and they let him go immediately, and asked him not to mention the incident to The Dad. (Apparently this guy ran the local mortuary or crematorium or something like that.)
So, that type of thing has been going on forever, but it's worse now. Cancun, yes- border town, NO. If you have something a cop or a drug lord wants, you could disappear pretty easily.

My father has been an RVer for years. He won't take a vehicle across the border ever. But he has gone across to get medicine, dentures and such. What he does is consults with the RV park's staff and other RVer's in the various parks on where to go.

He has said that the various border cities have made decisions over the years whether to be home to the coyotes and other criminal element or to be tourist friendly. The tourist friendly have maintained control of the police, are for the most part not corrupt and only have a low level of drugs and other "illegal" things available.

So some places it is pretty safe to go down and you don't have to sweat it. Other cities you barely want to be there in the day, let alone at night.

BunnyGirl: According to the news reports, that guy went with a friend to Juarez to get a vehicle repaired for their business. Mexican soldiers pulled them over and accused them of transporting marijuana. The friend happened to have the same name as someone in a drug cartel, so they were both thrown in jail, and convicted of the charges. I should have included a link to the actual news story. Here it is.

Not sure if you guys know this but MAC (the makeup) almost released a collection about Juarez that had dead looking girls in the promos.

The designers were Rodarte and because their great grandfather was Mexican they thought it would be a perfect way to celebrate their heritage. ..cuz the city with mass graves for murdered women is so trendy.

Anyways I've been to Juarez and yeah it's fucking horrible. I do remember a moustached Mexican guy with an itty bitty Chihuahua, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a tiny purse.

Why did I go? I don't recall but I do remember finding out from a tranny I can get a boob job for like $2,000. (I was there for like 2 hours tops).

My mom had a friend who was a dentist like the one above. She had a really nice house in San Diego. I'm still curious how people cross the border and live like that.

Why not,just go to USC or UCLA dental clinics? Cheaper and easier.

Away from the US border and away from Mexico City, Mexico is a nice country.

Corruption and lawlessness are - to a large extent - driven by the drug trade. If the US would legalize and regulate drugs, Mexico would be a much more peaceful place...

Heh, I just did some medical tourism here in Boston... I bought 2 pairs of glasses! It only works because I was here anyhow and the dollar is low.

I do know people who go to France for their dental work. I'm sure I'd save a few hundred, but its a bit of a PITA so I don't bother.

I went to high school in West Texas in the late 80's. When we went to El Paso for debate tournaments they would take us to Juarez for an afternoon outing. Can you imagine taking high school kids on a field trip there now?

My favorite Juarez story comes from my husband, though, who grew up in El Paso. A friend of the family had her brand new car stolen. She had owned it for about two days and was pretty upset about the theft because she hadn't set up the insurance on the car yet. A few weeks later, she was over in Juarez and what did she see but her car in a parking lot. She rummaged around in her purse and found the keys, took a look around, and then walked over, got in the car, and drove it home.

Yeah, back in the day, no trip to El Paso or Las Cruces was complete without spending an evening hanging out in Juarez. For those who don't know, those two towns are the usual staying places for people who travel to do military or aerospace work at Fort Bliss and the White Sands missile range. Nowdays, Juarez is off limits to DoD and NASA personnel, and rental car agreements at ELP include a separate piece of paper that you must sign that specifically disallows taking the car into Mexico.

Interesting article, Amy. Medical tourism is picking up even through Obamacare and while Juarez is one extreme, patients are also flocking to safer and larger cities like Mexico City. So much so that 2 colleagues from college and I started a website to help patients find unbiased information on doctors so they don't end up like the guy in those links above! A patient from us just contacted a bariatric surgeon in Mexico City from Centro Medico ABC, the top hospital in México, to save something like 80% off her gastric bypass. Would love to hear what other think about our site with ~2000 doctors registered: medkohealth.com