“What will it cost me, Doctor?”
(This subject—fixing the fee—is treated at length in another chapter—[IX].)
There are some specialists who lack tact is ascertaining a caller’s financial responsibility, or in gaining his confidence. Their work is so coarse that it repels instead of attracts. These men rarely, if ever, obtain any considerable number of patients among well-to-do or intelligent people. Their practice is invariably cheap, and $50 fees are few and far between.
One specialist of this description opened an office in Chicago. He was a good physician and his ability had been recognized by his appointment to important professorships in various medical colleges and hospitals. He failed as a specialist because he lacked tact. If Mr. Robinson had called upon him he would have been brusquely received in a cheaply furnished one-room office, and the money feature would have been uppermost in the doctor’s talk. Instead of getting the caller interested in the treatment, by means of a courteous reception, and strict attention to an examination for which no charge was made, the itch for money would have been so apparent that Mr. Robinson could not help but notice it.
Following is an almost verbatim report of the manner in which a caller was received in the office of this physician. After a short discussion of the case and before an examination was made, or even suggested, the caller asked:
“Do you think you can cure me, Doctor?”
“I don’t think, I know,” was the surprising answer. “There’s no question about it. In three months you’ll be as sound and well as you ever were.”
The caller was an intelligent man, and the boldness of the statement, taken in connection with the circumstances under which it was made—the physician having had no opportunity to ascertain the exact conditions—was far from reassuring. It was a bad break on the doctor’s part, but there was worse to come. The caller had made up his mind not to trust himself in the hands of this physician and, as an easy means of escape, asked:
“What will the treatment cost, Doctor?”
“How much money are you earning? Are you working for somebody, or are you in business for yourself?”