I believe the fees like 'holding a baby' are a result of them determining an overall cost to charge you, average, per hour, then itemizing it out for legal or tracking reasons. So you weren't being charged $40 to hold the baby for a minute, it's you are being charged $40 for a minute, during which you held the baby.
I don't think that is correct in this instance. The example comes from this same author a previous time here: https://www.vox.com/2016/10/4/13160624/medical-bills-birth-d... . Here is a quote from an uninvolved pediatric nurse on where the charge comes from: "doing 'skin to skin' in the operating room requires an additional staff member to be present just to watch the baby. We used to take all babies to the nursery once the NICU team made sure everything was okay. "Skin to skin" in the OR is a relatively new thing and requires a second Labor and Delivery RN to come in to the OR and make sure the baby is safe." I think the charge is justifiable, but keep in mind no one is telling the new parents "Do you want to hold your new baby right now? It'll be $40." They are just offering and allowing people to accept not knowing they'll be charged.
