"Already booked surgery/hotel/flight but surgeon now can't do surgery"

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This happened to before with another type of surgery, not LL. Something came up in the surgeon's life so the surgeon has to cancel a few months after we had already scheduled the date. So flight cost/hotel cost was wasted. Not the surgeon's fault- but I'm just trying to figure out some smart ways to decrease wasted costs next time I need to do a surgery,  such as next year when I do LL for the first time LL

If this happened with LL it would be a much bigger cost (3 months airbnb/apartment/hotel and the plane ticket cost outside of the USA/cost of any lab work or tests done before the surgery)

I'm trying to figure out backup plans/safety measure to take if for some reason next year if a doctor in Athens or Mumbai have some event in their life that results in a cancellation a few months after scheduling the date. And then the money I put into living arrangements/airbnb/hotel would get wasted. But booking those things last minute also seems like not a great idea because they will be more expensive if you book last minute, right? 

What would be your advice for measures to take to protect against this/decrease costs in this worst case scenario?

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ty!! For Washignton D.C. -> (connecting flight) -> Athens, Greece, what airlines would you consider?