Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-07-07
Editors Letter Box
Apropos Big Fees

Editor Kennebec Journal:
Dear Sir:-Apropos Of the article
which appears in today's Letter
Box" Of the X. J. on the high cost of
sickness, and death, we recall that the
late and beloved DR.. w. Scott Hill
never advanced his professional fees,
and yet, starting as a physician with
no financial resources, he built up
and~left at his death a good fortune,
even though, as he has been heard to
say, he had $4,000 on his books in i'm
collectabls bills. In 1901 he per-
formed an operation for cancer on
the breast of an elderly patient, which
involved cut of six or seven inches,
and from which was complete re-
covery. The price Of the operation
being $12. The assisting physician,
the late DR.. Robert Martin charging
81 for his services. Verify things
have taken a turn since then. In 1928
a mother from Washington, D. c.,
with a boy of six, who had recently
been operated on for tonsils, was in
Maine, and not being quite satisfied
with the appearance of the throat
took the boy to a specialist, who
looked at the throat and prescribed
plenty of ice cream and chewing
gum; nothing more. Fee $1,000. No
wonder that the mothers regular
physician on her return home, when
told Of it said, that he was ashamed"
Of his profession. Not long ago
(within two years. a young girl here
went to hospital for removal of ade-
noids which had been deferred. partly
on account Of expense, until deafness
was noticeable. The surgeons bill
was $50, If paid within two weeks;
otherwise much more. The mother
went from her home into the mill and
worked and earned the money in time
to get the discount and paid the $50.
- OF course it is not the "Materia
Medica" world alone that sets the
price high. There are Others" and
a story told at a late gathering seems
quite apt for the times. A man who
was near death called the doctor, who
raid him one or two visits and then
asked II he had any money. "A hum
dred dollars" the patient replied, ito
send to his mother in the old coun-
try" Better call in lawyer then
and have 1t attended to properly the
doctor advised; so a lawyer was called
to settle the estate" 1t was quickly
settled as the Doctors bill was $50 and
the lawyers the same, so there was
nothing left to send the old mother,
but the lawyer kindly ca offered to
communicate with her, land what
shall I write her." he asked. Tell
her." said the dying Pat, that died,
like the Saviour, between two
thieves"
Now this looks pretty bad written,
and no discredit is meant here on the
doctor whose presence, even In the
~,o te 1xhn
himself in untold ways and Is ready
day or night to wait upon the slight
est call of distress, often no doubt,
without any prospect of remunera-
tion,-and who may not overcharge-
but where did surgery get the right
to soar the price as it has? or the de-
mand for nursing-$25 to $40 week,
besides board and washing. calling for
constant immaculate wilderness ALI
very nice if you feel that way about
it, and have the means to meet the
expense; but what proportion of folks
in the common walks of life can, with
out emba rrassments? One more story.
This is about DR.. Hiram H. Hill, long
since passed on, but for many years
one of the leading physicians of
Maine. It was necessary to ampu-
tate a mans leg and the man was
poor. II shall want $50 for the opera
tion," the doctor said to him, land
must have it in advance" The man
had no $50 to give him and as the
Doctors word went out, the doctor
was denounced as hard and grasping,'
but finally his neighbors and friends
came to the rescue and collected the
$50 and carried it to the man. who
sent for the doctor and offered him
the money. Keep your money" said
DR.. Hill. IT don't want it, but you
will need it for a good many things
after the operation and planned this
way for you to get 1t. We will plan
now to take off the leg and I shan't
ask you cent" Probably the most
of our doctors do just as kind things
yet how many of us in these days can
think Of the expense, alone, of illness
without CONSERVATION? The sur
geon's knife does wonderful things,
but it would be pity to have to think
that there is no conscience back of it.
M. E. f.
July 4.