Doctor's Bill Research Articles

The Doctor's Bill

The Doctor's Bill

The Doctor's Bill

The Doctor's Bill Reginald M. Atwater CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.25.7.877 Published Online: August 29, 2011

Review of The doctor's bill.

Review of The doctor's bill.

How to Collect a Doctor Bill.

How to Collect a Doctor Bill.

Judge Kohlsaat and the Probate Court.

Chicago, Oct. 3, 1898. To the Editor: —As long as the medical profession prides itself on keeping out of politics, it will be discriminated against by the politicians and the courts. The action of Judge Kohlsaat toward our profession and our bills has become so outrageous that it is of vital importance that we take steps to protect ourselves from his lawless treatment. The judge has made some rulings about which every one of us should know and we should thoroughly understand their effects on our welfare. There have been many criticisms of his arbitrary rulings, but two in particular, which are thoroughly authenticated, will give. It must be understood that only claims against estates come up in the probate court. The two decisions which, according to his own statement, are permanent in his court, are as follows: First: I will not allow more than one doctor bill against

The Bill was Disallowed.

Chicago, Ill., July 20, 1898. <h3>To the Editor:</h3> —I wish to call your attention to two cases which will be of interest to the medical profession. On March 25 I appeared before Judge Kohlsaat with a bill for $25 for professional services against the estate of Byron A. Baldwin. My bill was for administering an anesthetic and assisting at an operation. The surgeon's bill, presented at the same time, was allowed after being cut down. My bill was taken up immediately afterward, when the judge delivered himself, in substance, as follows: Haven't I just allowed one doctor's bill against this estate? When one doctor is paid, they are all paid; I can't have half a dozen doctors coming here making claims against this estate. If you are entitled to anything you must look to the other doctor for it. The bill is not allowed. The following is from the Chicago

Non-payment of Bills.

Chicago, Nov. 19, 1896. <h3>To the Editor:</h3> —As the last of the month approaches I size up accounts and am impressed with the fact that the doctor is the first man called and the last man paid. Patients get sick without due financial preparation and consequently the doctor must trust or drop the case, a thing which few doctors are hard hearted enough to do. After recovery the patient soon forgets how sick he was, thinks the doctor did not help much anyway, must have charged for visits made to some other party, etc., and feels as though the bill was too big anyway. Paying an old doctor's bill seems to him like paying for a dead horse. The facts that people usually can not pay at once, and the doctor's kindness, have established the custom of paying doctor's bills whenever the patient gets "a good ready." I would like

In Opposition to Woman Doctors in Insane Asylums.

Richmond, Va., March 19, 1894. <h3>To the Editor:</h3> —You refer in a late issue to the contest in our late Legislature on the "Woman Doctor Bill." Two years ago the lower House passed a bill unanimously compelling the Board of Directors of each insane asylum to put one woman doctor in office for each institution. This bill was defeated in the Senate, though every newspaper in this city and many in the country were heartily in favor of it. We had it " hot and heavy" in the newspapers. Men and women abused me pretty roundly for my opposition. I think I wrote a dozen letters in the papers against it. The asylum influence was very great against it, and but for this help I would have been badly whipped. In the last two years I have given this subject a great deal of thought and observation, wrote my pamphlet on