Abstract
Researchers have overlooked how poor consumers judge service quality in health care settings in Latin America. This research addresses this void by exploring how vulnerable consumers evaluate quality in a public hospital. The results show that vulnerable consumers evaluate hospitals on service delivery process, physician–patient relationship, and medical service reliability. Vulnerable consumers judge health care quality foremost on a provider’s ability to provide them with fairness. The results also show that vulnerable consumers view the quality of their relationship with a physician just as important as reliability. Hospitals that serve vulnerable patients should strive to emphasize fairness and empathy.