CHAPTER IX.

DECIDING UPON THE FEE. Value of Psychological 131 Influence in Acting at the Right Moment—Just as Easy to Get Big Fees as Small Ones—Experience of a Young Physician—Great Difference in Patients—An Exhibition of “Gall”—Incubus of the Old Dollar-Fee System—When to Name the Fee and How to Fix Upon the Amount—What the Practitioner Should Say and Do in Order to Secure Large Payments—How Reduction May Be Gracefully Made When a Patient Protests Against the Amount—Dealing With “Tight Wads”—How to Skilfully Dangle the Bait of Health Without Actually Promising Results—Taboo on the Word “Cure”—Bringing the Caller Who Hesitates Down to the Point of Positive Action—System to Be Followed in Deciding Upon Amount of Fee a Patient Will Pay