Dr. Claudia Corral, a radiologist with Centro Medico Internacional, looks at digital X-ray on a PACS-digital radiology system.

On a separate occasion after her son suffered an allergic reaction, Sanchez received a $3,800 bill for just three hours treatment at a U.S. hospital. “U.S. hospitals are too slow, too expensive and treat you like a herd of cattle,” Sanchez said. “It’s a vicious cycle of people and doctors who abuse the system.”

Sanchez joins many local residents who feel alienated by the impersonal service, exorbitant physician fees and ancillary charges they claim to see at U.S. hospitals. An estimated 32 percent of Rio Grande Valley residents seek medical treatment in Mexico, according to a National Institutes of Health-funded study organized by University of Texas–Pan American researchers.

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