Agreed Rate of Medical Charges.

In this broadside, published in June 1848, a group of twelve physicians in Charlottesville set minimum prices for their services. Four of the signees—Drs. John Staige Davis, J. A. Leitch, Charles Minor, and J. W. Poindexter—at the time comprised the entire faculty of the University of Virginia's medical school. The price list includes the cost of a doctor's home visit, which factored in the distance traveled, the time of day, and inclement weather; the cost of various operations and amputations ($40 for amputating a thigh, for instance); the price for setting various bones and for the treatment of "secret diseases" such as gonorrhoea and syphilis; and the cost of delivering babies, with the prices varying according to race (the birth of a single white child cost $20 and $30 for twins, while the price for delivering a single black baby was $10 and $20 for black twins).

Citation: The Claude Moore Health Services Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.