Salt Lake Tribune | 1904-02-28 | Page 12 | The Principle of Charges

THE PRINCIPLE OF CHARGES. P "A Philadelphia Judge," says American Ameri-can Mpflfnlnn. "hnn riven pvnrK5iInn. tn the opinion that 'the life of a rich man is worth more than the life of a poor man, and the physician has a right to charge tho millionaire more for his services ser-vices than ho does the laborer.' He went on further to say that 'the physician physi-cian is unllko tho merchant, who has goods of different quality to sell at various prices. He must give his best service in every case. But it does not follow that tho service is w'orth the same In every case. Life has a pecuniary pecu-niary value of variable quuntlty, greater in the millionaire than In the laborer. Thus, the practitioner of common com-mon sense has a maximum and a minimum mini-mum charge and makes out his bills to suit the pecuniary circumstances of his patients.'" Tho .writer thinks that "there will be no dissent on the part of right-thinking peoplo" from this view. Carried to its logical conclusion It would appear to juatlfy a sliding scale of prices for all the necessities, of life, carefully care-fully adjusted to the varying incomes of the users. This last sentence, is from the Literary Digest, from which we take the extract; It is wrong logic. In order for it to be true and applicable, it would have to be shown that those who sell the necessities necessi-ties of lifo give as freely from their stocks to those unable "to pay for their needs, as physicians do. It Is perfectly well known that physicians have a considerable proportion propor-tion of their practice among poor people, who aro not able to pay, and from whom the physician doesn't expect pay. In other cases, the patient or his family may bo able to pay part of the regular charge, but not all. It Is perfectly proper, therefore, for physicians to have a sliding scale of charges; In fact, they are obliged to have It. And the Philadelphia Judge was quite right In his holding both on the .point stated and on tho general propositions necessarlly'lnvolvcd.