title: The hair stylist, the corn merchant, and the doctor: ambiguously altruistic.
abstract: The medical profession has a tradition of presenting itself as exceptionally altruistic. This article challenges the idea that physicians are, or should be, more altruistic than other professionals or other people, and goes so far as to posit that even a professional aspiration of altruism can have negative consequences.
authors.affiliation: Wallenborn Professor of Biomedical Ethics at the University of Virginia.
authors.forename: Lois
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shepherd
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D000068616:Professionalism