There's this brand of packaged sliced bread I recently purchased. And as I used it, making sandwiches, I discovered that I was left with just one slice of bread at the end. They actually packaged an odd amount of bread slices in the loaf. This was a calculated move by the company to force you to buy another loaf of the identical brand to complete the sandwich. What an example of pure corporate evil. I will buy that last loaf of Roxxon Rye Bread and be done with it forever

With good reason.

Your wife's taste in music and musicians is beyond reproach.

Sorry to hear that.  This is the U.S. where we worship money and have made healthcare a commodity. 

I'm sorry to hear that your girlfriend is going through these problems, and that you and she have had to deal with some unsympathetic individuals along the way.

In regard to the cancellation fee, I'm going to play devil's advocate on it. My sister is a doctor and she and her partners (it's an ob/gyn practice) deal with this type of thing all the time. They have to adjust their schedules to keep her office open late for an evening appointment (meaning they are away from their families), pay staff to be there (office manager, PA, etc.), pay the utilities associated with the extended hours, pay themselves, and because the patient did not show up, they can't legally bill for a visit to either the patient or the patient's insurance, which means all of that expense is coming directly out of their pockets, not to mention the time they have sacrificed from their personal lives.

While it would be great if doctors did their jobs because they love to help people (and many, like my sister, truly do), truth is they have student loans (at levels most of us can't imagine), mortgages, car payments, grocery bills, etc., on top of the cost of actually running their practices, including their staff, rent for the office, purchase of equipment, utilities, medical insurance (because people love to sue doctors for any little thing), continuing education, etc. It's easy to call them cruel or heartless, and maybe in this instance, where the counseler knows your girlfriend's problems may result in situations like this, they could have shown a little grace, but they're just trying to make a living too, while providing a service that 99% of the population isn't remotely qualified to do.

The Captain hit it on the head. Healthcare is a business now. And sadly it has become due to over the years the many masses that abuse and take advantage of it all. For every person who truly needs some health care help there are many more who abused the system to the point where really sick and ill people are the minority. There is always going to be issues and problems but it is true also that many of the healthcare providers are not empathetic or caring as they should be. Many have grown numb, cold, indifferent and uncaring over time and should be reminded to stop, think, care and be concerned and treat everyone compassionately.

Here at my hospital we have a do not turn away even if cannot pay policy. There are those then who believe this means we are a hotel for them. Homeless come in through the ER and then live in the hospital during the hottest portion of summer and the coldest times of winter. We have to lock our unit patient kitchen's because they or family members will eat all the jello, pudding, ice cream, soda and such we keep in hand. 

The ER will be flooded with people who won't go see a physician at their office instead using the ER as if it is a doctor office. We had to set up our ER so it now has 3 separate portals for admittance: children, urgent life threatening requiring immediate action and non-urgent. You would be amazed at the people who sit and scream complaining about a child being taken before them or a bleeding patient taken before them as every person believes they are the most important and urgent problem needing to be taken care of. 

I used to work for an independent OBGYN office and you would not believe the cancellations and reasons people would use and the ways they would also try to get an appointment pushed in-between other peoples appointments. A yearly OBGYN check up is NOT AN EMERGENCY yet many tried to treat it as such to demand being seen. We had one lady every year would cancel same day stating her mother had passed away and she did this every year for 5 years. Another would call and cancel by leaving message on the voicemail and would never call to speak or reschedule in person and whenever you returned her call you would only get her voicemail. She would come into the office demanding to be seen then and there after a several days of phone tag.

There is no easy answer other than when we face such uncaring individuals we should be willing to speak up and help remind them to do the good, compassionate and caring right things. Sometimes that is all they require, a gently push in the right direction to encourage them...