As part of efforts to improve the leadership and management training of pathologists, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) formed a Laboratory Medical Director Working Group in 2010 to guide the establishment of educational modules for pathologists who have, or will have, responsibilities as laboratory medical directors. This is in concert with the CAP's transformation efforts.One of those modules concerns communications, specifically, improved direct communications between pathologists and patients. Upon hearing of such a module, at least one pathologist remarked, “No pay, no play.” In essence, unless there is direct payment for speaking to patients, there would be no effort by that pathologist to interact with patients. Similar remarks have been made in the past about clinical pathology. The CAP has no data to know how many pathologists share that perspective, or what percentage of pathologists will never, under any circumstances, speak to patients.Certainly, pathologists must work with the patient's primary physician. Many of us remember the phrase, “the doctor's doctor.” For many of us, it is a joy and not a burden to consult with colleagues in other specialties, sharing our in-depth knowledge and understanding of the pathophysiology of disease. During my nearly 3 decades as a practicing pathologist in both community hospital and academic medical center settings, I considered it a high honor to be asked to “Please go upstairs, examine the patient, and tell me what you think.”Hematopathology, dermatopathology, and hepatic pathology are 3 areas in particular that require a profound knowledge of clinical medicine as well as anatomic and clinical pathology.In a study from Wake Forest University of Medicine (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) by Anderson, Barbara, and Feldman,1 the researchers sought to find the key qualities that affected patients' satisfaction with primary care. Their study showed that patients value access to the physician, communication, personality and demeanor of the provider, quality of medical care processes, care continuity, quality of the health care facilities, and office staff as reasons for rating the physicians as excellent.Patients desire empathy, value the doctor-patient relationship, and crave communication with physicians. We are physicians first, part of a health care team. We have a long history of professional ethics and medical decorum.Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), founded in 1902, is the national medical honor society. Its mission statement declares:“Alpha Omega Alpha—dedicated to the belief that in the profession of medicine we will improve care for all byThe credo of the AΩA is, “Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering.”The CAP has a similar mission statement:“The College of American Pathologists, the leading organization of board-certified pathologists, serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine.”3Some of us have had the privilege of knowing and serving with pathology leaders like Jerald R. Schenken, MD, and Pierre W. Keitges, MD, giants who epitomized these ideals. Pathology is a diagnostic specialty within medicine, not a trade or an isolated skill. The future of medicine in general, and pathology and laboratory medicine, in particular, will be defined in many ways by the value and worth we bring to patient care, not merely by the billable activities we accumulate. In other words, we can do well and we can “do good,” but “doing good” comes first.No one can take our professional ethics away from us. Only by our actions can we give them away. We are at a crossroad.