Are you better off choosing a female surgeon?

BOSTON – If you need an operation, you may be better off choosing a female surgeon.

A new study published in JAMA Surgery looked at over a million patients who underwent an elective or emergency operation between 2007 and 2019 and found that those treated by a female surgeon were less likely to die, get readmitted to the hospital, or suffer a major complication up to one year out. 

This was regardless of the type of patient, procedure, surgeon, anesthesiologist, or hospital.

More research is needed to understand why female surgeons outperform their male peers when it comes to surgical outcomes, though prior research has suggested that female physicians, in general, have better patient outcomes, perhaps owing to differences in communication, practice style, and the physician-patient relationship.