[smnrchrds]

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't doctors in the UK get paid a salary instead of the fee-for-service model prevalent in the US and Canada?

[pmyteh]

For NHS hospital doctors (including heart surgeons) that's true. General practitioners may be salaried or equity partners (the system is largely by contract to doctors' offices rather than directly employed). There is also a small percentage of non-NHS private work, though this is mainly in routine elective work rather than high-risk heart surgery.