Yes, this whole story sounds very odd. The other cases of abandoned Everest climbers have involved people who were apparently really on the verge of death, and unlikely to be saveable with the resources available to other passing climbers. Something else was going on here.
I haven't climbed for 25 years or so (and then I was a pretty unadventuresome rock climber), but I avidly read the literature then. Leaving people to die was inconceivable. The attempt to rescue Art Gilkey on K-2 in 1953 is celebrated. The expedition was made up of some of the greatest climbers in the USofA, led by Charlie Houston. Gilkey developed thrombophlebitis (clotting of blood in a leg and a lung) at 25,500 ft (K2 is 28250 ft in elevation), which was life-threatening in a hospital at sea level. The expedition tried to get him down, despite the risk that all of the climbers at that altitude could perish.
As it ended up, the team had a serious fall. Gilkey, who was immobile, was tied off, while the fallen climbers were recovered, and, when they went to get Gilkey, he had disappeared. Some think that an avalanche carried him away while others believe that he sacrificed himself, as he recognized the danger of the rescue.
The problem seems to be that climbing Mt Everest has become a business, and the professional guides are extremely reluctant not to deliver success to their customers who have paid a lot of money. I'll never face the question, but I would think that I would more cherish the memory of participating in a high-altitude rescue than that of standing on the summit of Everest.
We live in sick society.