In general, though, Mr. Anderson said he would welcome the company of other plaintiffs' lawyers in what is fast becoming a lucrative specialty.

The hospital, with 589 beds, has no academic affiliation or area of lucrative specialty, yet Mr. Fuentes earned more than many of his counterparts in New York.

And Blackstone's huge restructuring business, a lucrative specialty for the firm in recent years, could bolster the push into deal-making advice.

With the many pressures placed on primary- care physicians to see enormous numbers of patients just to keep their heads above water, it is unfortunate but not surprising that many have gravitated toward more lucrative specialties.

So as a lawyer I see it as potentially a very lucrative specialty.

Few deny, however, that it is a potentially lucrative specialty, though the benefits are sometimes intangible.

Doctors who are not pursuing wealth are more likely to shun more lucrative medical specialties and choose primary care such as pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology and internal medicine instead.

But thousands had their problems diagnosed by a group of a few dozen doctors for whom implant work is a lucrative specialty.

Top students were encouraged to pursue the more prestigious and lucrative specialties.

Their residency programs, particularly in less lucrative specialties like internal medicine and pediatrics, have a hard time attracting American medical graduates.