Why women doctors might be better for your health
A new Harvard study reveals the superiority of female doctors when it comes to treating elderly patients.
Researchers found that in the U.S., elderly patients with female doctors are less likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital.
Women physicians outperformed the men by 0.5%, which may seem modest. But if the male doctors operated at the same level as their female counterparts, there would have been 32,000 fewer deaths last year.
That's about as many people who die from car crashes in the United States annually. Considering this study looked only at elderly people in Medicare, the death toll could be much higher for the medical system at large.
"The truth is for common medical conditions, how we take care of older Americans is a good marker for how we take care of everybody with those conditions," says professor of health policy and co-author of the Harvard study, Dr. Ashish Jha.
Jha says the data reveals women perform better "evidence based" medicine.
Women seem to be achieving a better outcome because they are practicing more effectively. More scientifically based, a little better communication. I think all of that is translating.- Dr. Ashish Jha
Jha points out that women doctors, like most female professionals, still make 10 per cent less than the men in their industry.
Given the statistical evidence that they are more effective at their jobs, Jha says this salary discrepancy is "particularly unconscionable."
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This segment was produced by The Current's Shannon Higgins, Willow Smith and Ines Colabrese.
Listen to the full conversation at the top of this webpage.