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## Is there a reason why Black Jack charges exorbitant fees for the surgeries
and operations he performs?

In the series I often find Black Jack to be inconsistent due to the amount of
free surgeries he performs while maintaining a reputation of charging insane
medical fees. Are his ridiculously priced operations merely to get his
patients to question the value of their (loved ones) life?

* * *

Perhaps the only consistency about his fees, besides their high price, is that
if he feels he failed he will cancel the fee. The pricing seems totally random
and he charges high amounts even for people that appear to be poor. I
understand that as an unlicensed doctor he has no obligations to save someone.
However, part of my reason for asking is that the reason Black Jack is alive
is entirely due to the fact that a doctor took responsibility and saved his
life. Normally, people would feel a sense of debt to this fact and try to
repay this debt by doing the same in turn to those they meet in life. I don't
think as a doctor he needs to give away surgeries or operations, especially
with his level of expertise, but doctors are already well paid and it seems
outrageous to charge as much as he does.

* * *

Is there anywhere in the manga or anime that solidly explains _why_ he charges
as he does, or are there any convincing arguments about this?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-10-20T04:02:31.077
26716
2016-10-16T02:43:47.863
17758
question
black-jack
Why does Black Jack charge exorbitant fees?


I don't believe there was ever a solid statement in the Manga for Black Jack's
high prices. However recently I came across two interesting stories in
Vertical's volume #2 that might shed some light on Tezuka's intent.

  1. In the story "Granny" , which is about another doctor who also charged a lot and an old woman who worked her whole life to pay off a debt to the doctor, Black Jack says

> "I thought I was the greediest man ever."
>
> [![from Black Jack volume
> 2](https://i.stack.imgur.com/axhHp.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/axhHp.jpg)

This seems like kind of a joke, so I don't think his prime motivation is
greed. In fact Black Jack doesn't seem to spend much of his money ( he
basically lives in a shack). Later in the same story he charges the son of the
old lady a huge sum, but that seems to be a test to see if the son is willing
to make the same sacrifice that his mother did. It's not clear if Black Jack
actually charges the son after the son passes this test.

[![end of
Granny](https://i.stack.imgur.com/m4M1p.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/m4M1p.jpg)

  2. In the same volume there is a story of Black Jack's recovery from his surgery as a child when a classmate donated a piece of skin to save his face. Black Jack Promises to become a doctor so he can pay this friend back.

[![from the story Where Art Thou,
Friend](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Xvi9.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Xvi9.jpg)

These two examples could provide some reason for his fees, but I tend to think
that he really just decides the fee based on the character traits of the
patient, circumstances, or finances of the requestors to either punish,
reward, or test their worthiness.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-31T18:11:18.240
28543
2016-01-01T03:30:09.190
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303
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105
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answer


I've seen all the Anime adaptations, and read all the Volumes to the Manga,
and from what I've witnessed in both the Anime & Manga he chargec such mass
amounts in an effort to see if whether or not the patient truly values their
life or the life of the one they are requesting he save.

[Kuro himself went through a lot during his
rehabilitation](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gaWZk.jpg) and because of his
surgery (that was Incredibly risky) he was allowed a second chance at life
that in itself is worth more than any monetary value.

Which is what brought about his overall philosophy.

Plus due to how hard he and his doctor fought to preserve his life and regain
his physical abilities through rehabilitation [caused a lot of
distress](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yCnvS.jpg), he takes patients whom he has
saved through surgical means (who threaten suicide personally.) However, if
they must go through excruciating rehabilitation and begin to complain or want
to give up he is a lot harsher and impatient and will be blunt and state that
he was himself was blown to bits as a child and still managed to regain full
functionality and success, so they as his patients mustn't lose faith.

He doesn't seem to spend much of the money and lives, for the most part in
somewhat poverty, Pinoko is quick to point this out multiple times throughout
the manga and anime, but there are times when he actually won't ask for
payment or will even take something in exchange that's worth if anything else
just emotional or even no value.

There are times when he spends money, like when he makes trips around the
globe for his patients, or when he purchases islands in order to preserve
their natural ecosystem and to prevent urbanisation.

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Xvi9.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7Xvi9.jpg)

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/9qGh0.jpg)

^ Which I believe is done in memory of the little boy who donated the skin
graft that he has on his face who later grew up to be a environmentalist, but
was killed -sadly- during a protest.

He'll also spend it on spoiling Pinoko, who she herself suffered through an
exhausting and debilitating physical therapy [![in order to walk and live
normally as
well](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pPswY.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/pPswY.png)

Pinoko was abandoned by her twin sister, and Kuro was abandoned by his father
and lost his mother during a bomb explosion, because of this he tends to be
more compassionate with patients who come from similar backgrounds.

Since he's unlicensed he doesn't have to limit his skills to the rules that
the medical association holds he is far more advanced and is well worth the
extra dough.

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0QMSu.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0QMSu.png)

Especially when compared to the other doctors who are kept on a tight leash
and consequensly are not as experienced or skilled as our good doctor Black
Jack.

Plus since he ask for so much money, if the patient were to die or he'd fail
the operation, those who would have had to pay the impossible fee would feel a
sense of relief with not having to spend the substantial amount of money, and
Black Jack himself may feel less at guilt for having loss a patient.

However no matter the circumstance Kuro always goes the extra mile for each
patient, whether it be because of a promise, the pay, or because Pinoko insist
that he help he'll never give less than his 100%.

Although in actuality it's his moral code and the fact that he owes his own
life to a Doctor who took risks that he himself has become what he is today.

His goal is to save and preserve life, because nobody ever truly wants to die,
and at the end of the day you don't take anything with you once you die, so
the money itself isn't all that important to Black Jack.

(In the Manga and Anime there's a scene where he goes to a black Smith to
sharpen his surgical tools and he pays a substantial fee for the job, the
Smith then proceeds with throwing the money into the very fire and continues
with the work. Kuro didn't protest or ask why and it's noticed that the Smith
mentioned that the last time he preformed this task that he burnt even more
money, so it's evidence enough that money doesn't really matter much to Black
Jack)


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2016-04-29T04:56:41.927
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