Unfiltered Story #258018

My uncle, mom’s younger brother, has suddenly died from a heart attack around the age of 50. I don’t question it much as he never did much to take care of himself and had a slew of health issues as a result. My mom returns to her home state where he and her sisters all still lived. She helps to arrange the funeral and get his affairs in order and then returns home.
We were discussing my uncle several years after his death and she brings up that while going through his finances they found a bill for cataract surgery that he had recently received. She calls the office and informs them that he has passed away and they want to see about taking of his bill. The receptionist tells her that it’s fine, she just drop the fee for them. My mom is thanking her for the generosity when the lady drops this bomb:
Receptionist: Oh don’t worry about it. This is the fourth patient to die this month. (It was roughly midway through the month at this point.)
My mom then keeps casually talking until she notices my look of abject horror. In her grief she never thought to question the fact that this doctor had lost so many of his patients after a relatively simple surgery.