The Death of A Patient: To Bill or Not to Bill, That is the Question

Here is a non-classical limerick (6 lines: aabbba) I wrote this evening:

Pre-Operative Billing

There was a surgeon so skilled
His patients were preoperatively billed
But one didn’t survive
To leave his surgery alive
And when the mail did arrive,
The wife was not thrilled.


The ethical and professional issue is whether physicians should bill for services when the outcome is unfavorable or ends in the death of the patient. What factors should a doctor consider as appropriate for not billing for services rendered? ..Maurice.