Don't want to die before your time? Get a female doctor.

[elleng]

'If you are sick, elderly and in a hospital, you are more likely to survive when your primary doctor during that hospitalization is a woman, a new study shows.

The patients of female doctors are also less likely to be re-hospitalized in the month after discharge, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“We found a modest but, I think, clinically important difference in outcomes for patients cared for by female physicians as opposed to male physicians,” said the study’s senior author, Ashish Jha, a professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The researchers estimated that if male physicians could achieve the same results as their female colleagues, they would save an extra 32,000 lives among Medicare patients alone each year -- a feat that would rival wiping out motor vehicle accident deaths nationwide.'>>>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/19/women-doctors-hospital-patients/95531520/

[kevink077]

1. Could it be that women choose female doctors more?

and women on average live a few years longer?

[Xipe Totec]

3. Keen observation. As a male, I hope you are wrong

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. It was patients in general, not just female patients.

And it was fewer re-hospitalizations, not just total length of life.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

2. Good to know!

They also spend more time with patients, talk with them in more reassuring and positive ways and ask more questions about their emotional and social well-being.

I interacted with many different doctors when my parents (now deceased) were in poor health and hospitalized, and the women more often asked questions and listened in my experience.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Same experience here.

I have chosen female doctors every chance I had, much better communication and also more conscientious treatment, IMHO.

[IADEMO2004]

4. My small family group support the observation.

[TexasTowelie]

5. I must admit that when I have had female doctors

that I have had more diagnostic testing done than when I have had male doctors. I do not know what effect that would have on overall life expectancy, but it does seem like my female doctors have paid more attention when I've talked about any pain or symptoms that I've experienced.

[alfredo]

8. My female Dr at VA saved my life. She discovered the cancer.

[elleng]

9. Good to hear.

My husband's cancer was discovered by male docs.

I have good relations with my male GP, and also had good relations with my female doc. Only geography keeps us apart; she moved further into VA, and I moved AWAY in MD!

[alfredo]

10. I've had nothing but female GP Dr's at the VA.

[Ilsa]

11. My MIL's male doctor, a hospitalist, never

talked to us, her family, even though we made repeated efforts to be in her room when he was on rounds. He never called, never flushed out her recent history, even though she was taking a drug for dementia and had never been in that hospital before. He never gave us her diagnosis, and she couldn't remember what it was.

I was very frustrated by the experience and my inability to help her without more information.

[C Moon]

12. I saw a female nurse practitioner. She was the nicest visit I've ever had. She was busy as hell, too

On the other hand, I saw a female doctor some years back (covering for my doctor's absence) and it was the most belittling experience I've ever had at a doctor's office. I should have walked out—she did not want to be there; I got the impression she wanted to be at the beach or something.

So, I guess it depends on the doctor.

[elleng]

13. Yes, I'm sure it does.

LONG time ago, I saw a female ob/gyn, and it was similar to what you describe; she didn't want to be there. (NOT for the beach, imo; just didn't want to do it any more.)

[bucolic_frolic]

14. I think females are more concerned

when they give directions to patients and families, so they give more
details and consider what could go wrong. Although i did have one
female doctor that failed that test royally.

Males give directions. Obligation fulfilled.

[JudyM]

15. K&R.

[HeartachesNhangovers]

16. If patients are biased to choose male doctors, then

everything else being equal, it seems that the male doctors would be more overworked and the female doctors somewhat less overworked and therefore able to devote more time to patients that need it. That was my logic when I chose a female GP at my new PPO. So far, I'm still alive!