Re: Re(2): Tired of giving out technical advice for free

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

One more take on this:

My significant other is a physician and she is developing a national reputation in her specialty. She spends hours every week answering email from her own patients, from other physicians, from participants on a listserv. She spends even more hours counseling her patients on the telephone. None of this time is reimbursable by insurance companies, and she is ethically and legally prohibited from charging for it directly or from refusing to do it. 

It goes with the territory, however. The way the compensation model works, in theory (although not in practice), is that the rate at which she is reimbursed for the small portion of her time that is actually billable should compensate her for the nonbillable time.

It may be that Emily's readers are so accustomed to getting free phone or email advice from their doctors that they just presume all professions operate on the same compensation model. Maybe they should try that approach with their lawyers, too ;-)

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