But Doctor....

As someone well into his 70s - indeed closer to 80 - I was gobsmacked (there's a good oldfashioned word) to find that my doctor can throw me off his list (de-register is the official expression) even though I have done nothing wrong - indeed done nothing, full stop.  Not that I have any reason to think he will do any such thing, but apparently there are those like me around the country who are being de-registered simply because their doctor has too many patients.  Of course the immediate reaction is that if a doctor cannot cope with any more patients, should he or she simply stop taking any new patients on, rather than getting rid of existing ones? The cynic in me wonders if this is about time and money - are older, probably less healthy patients more demanding and expensive?  Touch wood, I am in reasonably good health, but it does make you think, doesn't it?