Mortality rates better with women doctors

A recent study published by JAMA Internal Medicine sheds some light into how the gender of a doctor may play a role in the quality of health care for patients in New York and across the U.S. The information suggests that patients treated by female physicians have a greater chance of living after being discharged from a hospital. Additionally, the study revealed that patient deaths are higher when they are treated by male doctors.

The implications are based on the review of 1.5 million medical records of Medicare patients who were hospitalized between 2011 and 2014. The care these patients received were for non-surgical reasons. Although the average age of the patients was 80, the assessment revealed that the percentage of patients who died within a month who were treated by women doctors was 11.07 percent. That number rose to 11.49 percent when the patients were treated by male doctors.

Some of the factors that led to the conclusion of the higher survival rates included the tendency for women doctors to communicate with their patients in an engaging and upbeat manner. Research also indicates that women doctors will comply with regulations more often than their male counterparts. Even when quality of care was factored in to conclude the mortality trends, the rate of 30-day hospital readmission was lower when patients were cared for by women physicians.

Although gender is not a definite factor, patients can evaluate quality of care through the level of communication that is given as well as medical care results. When medical care has revealed doctor errors or medical malpractice, a lawyer might be able to help file a lawsuit against the doctor to recover compensation for injuries.