Just to clarify, the patient was expected to pay the $25, not me. I think it's wrong either way. But Dan's post makes me suspect it may be a standard part of the Canadian system. Amos is right: the world is being overrun by "fees". Much of what used to be overhead expense is now passed directly on to the customer, often with additional mark-up just for the hell of it, to maximize the bottom line. Of course, as a small business owner I should add that many of the businesses who do that are being squeezed in the same way. I remember when the Provincial Museum in Victoria, BC (one of my all-time favorite museums) started charging admission. I heard, probably apocryphally, that most of the fee went to pay for collecting the fees!

Aloha,
Mark