To what extent does Cuban success and economy in medicine demonstrate the costs that privacy restrictions (including the right to die of natural causes in a hospital and not be dissected) and free access to the courts impose on medical education in the United States? To what extent might U.S. medical education increase if restraint by professional interests and avaricious patients were curtailed without limitation of other civil rights?

As the U.S. implements its new health care payments framework, careful attention to the Cuban experience might inform policy makers concerning the likely consequences of their innovations.