The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-08
CONCERNING LARGE FEES.

There have occurred lately in this City
two or three contests of one kind or an
other over the fees charged by distin-
guished specialists in their several lines.
This is very old subject, over which
the more fiippant members of the journal
istic guild have endless fun. There seems
to be perverse instinct within US which
leads US to decry the value of services rem
dered by those who have advanced far be-
yond US. In pursuing this course the dis
contented among US, by making capital
only of such instances as are revealed in
actions at law, confess an ignorance of the
fact that the very few instances of high
charges which get into the courts and
therefore, become matter of public
knowledge are avery small consideration
when compared with the general practice
and scale of charges of the distinguished
specialist concerned.
The professions which develop members
able to charge very large fees are few.
Outside of physicians, surgeons, lawyers
and dentists it is hardly profitable to
search, though now and then an architect
or civil engineer OF extraordinary ability
is encountered; but the nature of their
business generally presupposes contract,
which shuts out dispute over the value oil
the services after they have been rem
dered. 1t is in professions where services
have been rendered to relieve suffering in
an emergency, without reasonable oppor-
tunity for the making of contract, as
with physicians, surgeons and dentists, or
in legal matters in which the private in
off cd haA ho
tunity to make a contract, that disputes
between the specialist and his patient or
client occur.
Without considering at all the merits of
any such disputes, it is evident that they
have the effect of injuring the specialists
affected by them and belittling the PROBES
sions which they represent. The cases
most commonly appearing are those affect
ing lawyers and doctors. In the case OF
the lawyer, it is commonly complaint
that in the settlement of the affairs of an
estate he has charged an unreasonable fee.
In the case of the physician or surgeon,
| 1t is either matter of bringing a heavy
| charge against the estate of deceased
wealthy patient or of presenting large
| bill to living patient who had not made
COltIdCl iOT TIE SeIfiCe anu Is not familiar
| with the high fees which the specialist
usually charges.
To secure high eminence in any profess
sion requires the presence of so many rare
conditions that it would be tiresome to
discuss them. 1t is safe, for the general
argument, to assume that a specialist
who can command very large fees is excep-
tionally able. This eliminates shrewd
charlatans and ingenious sycophants, for
they cannot in the end rival specialists OF
genuine merit. And merit consists OF
many things besides operative skill. The
physician who understands the art OF
nursing is likely to be more valuable than
the one better skilled in prescribing.
The root of the whole matter is, first,
that every specialist who has secured emf
nence in his profession is entitled to all
that persons understanding his skill and
value are able and willing to pay; second,
that differences not only in perception,
but in means, may determine what clients
and patients are willing to pay; third, that
those who object to paying what such
specialists charge made the 'initial mistake
of not ascertaining what the charge would
be. II a dispute arises they could easily
claim that some other specialist would
! have performed the service at much