I worked with a hepatologist once who donated his services to low-income patients with hep c. Encouraged by his selfless act, I called him to learn more about how our services could help him (he was asking for a discount).

Well, it turns out that while his services were donated, he also owned a pharmacy and stood to make a lot more by using the donated time as what we might call a “customer acquisition cost”.

I would be surprised if he continues treating patients if the payout for treatment really goes down 30 fold. For what it’s worth, that’s a pretty typical physician I’ve worked with and I’ve worked with hundreds.

I don’t know why I expect more from physicians, but I do and they usually let me down.