The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-04-29
SICK AND TAKEN IN.
HELPLESS HOTEL GUESTS FLEECE0
BY BIG DOCTORS FEES.

Chicago Are In League With Conscience
less Members of the Medical Profession
to Effort Money.
Every large hotel in the city nowadays
has a physician resident in the building.
His presence in the hotel is n of the
proofs of the completeness of the modern
Flostelry, so far as the provision and com
Eort of the guest is concerned. The idea
{ having a doctor within instant call is
layond all question an excellent one, but
it seems that it has of late been subject
to grave abuse. The fact has got out
that some Of the hotel physicians make
use of their position to levy extortionate
charges for the treatment Of guests who
have been luckless enough to fall i'll
among strangers.
Complaint is made that far from being
a blessing to the guest, the ease with
which medical attendance can be secured
has III such cases become a source Of
genuine dread to visitors to the big city
Who have to stop at hotels. The guests
lear even a trifing illness while in the
aotel. because if they make the fact
known that they want to see a doctor
they will be charged a fee out of all pro-
portion to the service rendered by the
doctor, whose chief claim to patronage
is that he is "'always near at hand"
Complaint has been made against the
doctors charges in two of the best known
hotels in the town to a prominent con-
sulting physician.
When l was taken sick at the hotel
the other night" one of the compliments
said, 81 asked the head clerk to send me
DR.. S."
DIR. S." said the clerk in seeming
astOnishment. Il never heard of him.
But we have a competent physician in
the hotel whom | will send to your
~OOm."
The hotel doctor did go to the oom in
response to the request Of the clerk. He
made several visits during the night, al
though the guests didn't want and didn't
need more than one visit. A fee of so
was charged in the bill, and the guests
had to pay it. Subsequent investigation
made it clear that the reason for this
high fee was that the hotel physician
had made an arrangement with the no
tel proprietor by which the latter got a
third Of this big fee. The guests also
learned that this sharing of the fee had
been the custom at the hotel for a very
long time, and that guests submitted to
it rather than have any wrangle at the
clerks desk over charges, a thing that
self respecting persons naturally dread
and will avoid even where the charge is
u manifest imposition. The abuse has
recently attracted the attention Of the
professionals, who do not practice in no
tells, and has evoked an earnest protest
and a demand for reform.
The Medical Record, under the head
ing doctors and Hotels" handles the
subject in this vigorous style:
Every person Of sensitive morals, and
a good many with only every day sensi'
bilities, would be shocked if the whole
story of the relations of doctors to hotels
were written. There is a fashionable
hosiery in this town where the hOte.
doctor charges 81 a visit, and there is the
best reason for believing that the hust
ling landlord gets So of it. 1t is stated
on good authority that in many hotel:
the official doctor is obliged to give VI
| 1IOIu OlC-llIlI ~ ~ - VI AAhO SANAA
to the business management. People
who are taken i'll in hotels must have {
doctor and are not disposed to question
about terms. They do not find out wha
these are until they settle the bill, ant
then expostulatiOn is too late"
1t is only just to say that all the hote
physicians are not parties to this meal
sort of swindling. Many of them ar
physicians of high repute who live at thu
hotels and pay for their board and lodg
ings the same as any other guests an
have a regular and legitimate schedule
of charges based upon the market valu'
of their professional services. In case
where there is a "divvy' between tn
doctor and the hotel the physician get
his lodgings and board at a reduced rate
He is appointed by the hotel proprietor
and he excuse the high fee on the ple'
that he has to charge more than his reg
ular rate in order to make good the bonu
to the proprietor. This bonus is de
manded for the privilege of practiclng Il
the hotel.
This abuse is worse in Chicago tina
it is in New York" a prominent ply
SlClan said.
The bonus system is certainly an out
rage on the travelling public" said al
other physician, but at the same tim
the hotel doctor should not shoulder tn
entire blame for it. The responsiblllt
rests with the hotel proprietor who j
mean enough to look for gain from tn
sickness of one of his patrons. 1t is no
using very strong language to call thu
barbarism. Hotel proprietors who favo
the fleeing of the sick in their establish
ments ought to be tabooed by every hor
orable and self respecting man and We
man. If guests were to stay away fro1
such hotels, the bonus system would b
quickly suppressed."-New York Sun.
Johnson's Magnetic Oil cures cramr
and collie and internal neuralgia 40 an
- cents. Sold at w. NJ. Yearby's.