The executive who became the most visible symbol of profitdriven medical care stepped down yesterday as the top officer of the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation amid a criminal investigation of whether the company’s pursuit of profits has stretched beyond the legal limits. . . . [He] will be replaced by Thomas F. Frist, Jr., a surgeon by training, who has made his career in the hospital business. .. . Dr. Frist said he was ending Columbia’s practice of selling ownership stakes in its hospitals to its doctors. That has been a critical piece of the strategy that helped propel Columbia's growth but led to great legal and ethical criticism that the company was compromising the medical independence of its doctors.

Required:

Explain the potential conflict of interest that arises when doctors own the hospitals in which they work. The following news article may help.