The evening times., 1900-10-06
Big FEES OF PHYSICIANS
Heavy Charges for Practical Illus
tratiOns of knowledge.
a Chicago MedicaI MANS Suit for
$4,000 for Inserting n Silver Tube
in "a ChiId's Throat Sustained in
the Courts - The Heavy DeTrlaI
Expense OF an opera Singer.

Yes, sir" said one of the most noted
specialists among Chicago physicians, 1.-The
era of big doctors fees has not been with
US quite a generation. 1t was ushered in
by famous Philadelphia practitioner
about thirty years ago. Very likely the
young woman whose case was the cause
of the first big fee is still living, but
her wealthy father and that pioneer high
charging surgeon have both passed away.
One Day during the winter of 1876 the
young woman fell on an icy sidewalk in
Rittenhouse Square in the Quaker City
and broke the fbula of her left leg just
above the ankle. The treatment of such a
fracture requires almost skill what
ever. Il simply needs to be bound up and
the leg given long enough rest for the
broken bone to reunite. The tibia, the
heavy bone in the leg. acts as splint and
support, SO that it is almost impossible
for the ends of the broken fibuIa to get out
OF place. But, of course. the family of
the injured young lady did not know how
serious or how trivial was the accident
and her wealthy father called in one of
the most famous doctors in the town,
himself very wealthy man. The
physician made one or two yisits-no more
We're necessary-and the young lady was
OF course, soon on the high road to re-
coyery.
In a week or so the father se1c to the
surgeon for his charges. The doctor sent
back bill for $500 and the blow almost
gave the good old rich Quaker stroke OF
apoplexy. He roared long and hard and
loud He said the bill was outrageous, alb
surd, and extortionate The doctor stood
his ground. He declared he proposed to
make ? test case OF the affair and would
sue the Quaker if he declined to pay. On
the other hand. the Quaker maintained
that he would take the case up 10 the Su-
preme Court CT the United States before
he would pay the bill. This did not bluff
the doctor, who said he was determined to
ind out If men in other professions could
pass in big bills and have them paid while
doctors who had a coTTesp sponding amount of
intelligence, skill, and experience could
collect only ordinary, little everyday fees
Then the Quaker went home and
thought the matter over Perhaps in his
meditationS he figured out that to fight
the case to the court of last resort would
cost as much as the payment of the bill,
perhaps twice as much. At any rate in
a short time he concluded TO pay the
bill and sent his check for 81 SEQ to the
surgeon This was the first and original
big Dill case, and at the time the troutIe
developed il set Philadelphia by the ears
The whole town was excited over il, and
for number of days ii outclassed every
thing else as Inetter of general public
interest.
Times have changed so in these three
decades and SO many large doctors bills
have been charged and paid that when a
Chicago doctor not long ago charged twice
the amount OF the Philadelphia Doctors
Dill for performing the operation of intu-
baton no public interest whatever was
aroused A Chicago child was suffering
from diphtheria or some kindred trouble
and was in danger of strangIing to death
n 10 Tba NJ,
inserted silver tube into the chIld's wind
pipe and in this way probably saved its
life, as 1t soon began to get better and ul-
umately recovered. The physician sent
bill for $4,000. The father thought that
was a pretty big figure for simply insert
ing tube in the child's throat and he de-
ciined TO pay The doctor brought suit
and succeeded in obtaining Judgment for
the full amount. This operation. like the
Philadelphia case. was quite simple and is
performed without the least difficulty by
doctors who are practicing in that line of
work.
When the grand opera company was last
in Chicago one of the star singers found
it necessary to have a little dental work
done She had tooth that ached so bad
ly tha- it sadly interfered with her sing
ing, and she hastened to the parlors of n
dentist of whom she had heard much ia
yorable report. The dentist filled the
tooth IN couple of hours and the singer
found it about as good as new for all prac-
teal purposes. The dentist sent a bill
fer 5000 to the sweet songstress who was
given terrible shock when she discovered
that she was not the only high-priced ar
tist present when the tooth was filled
Through her manager she informed the
dentist that she would not pay any such
price for the gold in her tooth. The den
tist sent back word that if the singer
could not afford to pay the bill he would
make her a present of the work he had
done That was where the dentist ex-
hibited greater art than he did in perform
ing the tooth filling operation, for after
MS message was received the bill was
promptly settled without another word
See that little stone in the bottle" said
oHe Of the greatest of Chicago specialists
as he pointed to a grey lump about half an
inch In diameter which was corked up in |
small vial. THE removal of that stone
from patient brought me S1,50a. See that |
stone IN the other bottle It is about ten
or fifteen times as big as the first one, but
its removal brought me only $500 Why |
the difference? The first person could af- |
ford to pay what the delicate operation was
worth; the other patient could not But |
because the second patient was not able to |
pay all that the operation was really worth |
was not to me any reason for turning him |
away and declining to treat him. I gave
to each treatment the best of nv ability
and experience. and tried to fairly modify |
my charges to the poorer one instead of |
making him pay the full and regular
charge for the. operation. Chicago Chron- |
ieIe.
Saved by Her Stays