Risk of Death For Female Patients Is Much Higher if Surgeon Is a Man, Study Reveals

Recent research out of Canada has found that female patients tend to have better outcomes when their surgeon is also female.

A new model that compares the sex of the surgeon, the sex of the patient, and the outcomes of the surgery has revealed an implicit bias that could be costing patients their health and even their lives.

The data is based on more than 1.3 million patients who underwent one of 21 common surgeries in Ontario, Canada.

The analysis shows that when a male surgeon treats a female patient, they are more likely to experience a variety of health problems, and are more likely to remain in the hospital for longer.

Male patients who were treated by a female surgeon were less likely to die than male patients who had not been treated by a female surgeon.

This isn't the first time a study has found that a patient's sex might affect how their doctor treats them.

Female patients in Florida hospitals who were seeking care for heart attacks were found to have higher mortality when treated by male physicians.

Female physicians had more consistent outcomes even if their patient was male or female.

Men who had more exposure to female doctors had better outcomes for women.

Some studies have suggested that female physicians prescribe different follow-up tests and medications compared to male doctors, or that they listen more to their patients, but further research is needed to determine which factors are influencing these outcomes the most. We can start to mend the bias once we figure that out.

"Surgeons probably believe they provide the same quality of care to patients regardless of their identity," reads an invited commentary to the current paper, written by surgeons Amalia Cochran and Andrea Riner at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

These data show a measurable repercussion of implicit bias. Performance reviews should include metrics of surgeon outcomes with regard to patient identity.

Cochran and Riner suggest that medical experts could be better trained to communicate with patients with different identities.

Many patients don't get to make that choice because of the significant gender disparity in these professions, which suggests that patients are generally better off in the hands of female surgeons and physicians.

More than 27 percent of general surgeons in Canada were female in 2020. The percentage is lower in the United States. Female surgeons are paid less than male surgeons.

There are not enough female surgeons or surgeons who are competent in the care of female patients, so female patients with surgical disease should not be disadvantaged.

While there is no data, the concerns faced by female patients undergoing surgery may be even greater for gender non conforming and trans patients. We owe it to patients to provide them with the best outcomes, no matter what their identities are.

The study was published.