A new study from Yale University researchers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that political affiliation makes a difference in what treatment physicians decide to use in politically charged health matters such as abortion, marijuana use, and firearms in the home. In matters that are not politicized— say, anxiety and depression—regardless of their partisan alignment, physicians choose similar treatments for patients.
Professionals influenced on politicized issues by their political point of view? In these hyper-partisan times? Not exactly a shock when we know that treatment decisions vary by physicians’ gender, by patients’ race or ethnicity, and by geography. Saranya Palanisamy writes:
Eitan Hersh, the co-author of the study, said that the doctors are influenced by their political views in their professional decision making. The patients might have to choose physicians according to their own political views just like selecting a doctor of a particular gender to be more comfortable during the treatment processes.
The researchers created nine imaginary patients, asked surveyed doctors to rate the seriousness of each patient’s health issue, and to suggest treatments and make other recommendations. Most of the health issues had little or no political content—such as alcoholism or depression. But three of the nine vignettes were highly politicized. One of the made-up patients smoked marijuana regularly, one had had multiple abortions, and another was parent who kept several guns at home.
Democratic physicians were somewhat more concerned about patients’ storage of firearms at home, while Republican physicians focused more attention on marijuana use and abortion. Regardless of partisan affiliation, the physicians gave similar attention and urged similar treatment options in the other six patient vignettes, including obesity, depression, and alcohol abuse.
In a press release, Matthew Goldenberg, the other co-author of the study, said:
“Given the politicization of certain health issues affecting countless patients, it is imperative that physicians consider how their political views may affect their professional judgments [...] The evidence calls for heightened awareness among physicians and more training concerning our biases in how we address politically salient health issues.”
Yes, of course. Physicians, like other professionals, should be aware of personal biases that may affect their professional advice and decision making. But before everyone races out to make sure their physician is affiliated with the right political party, there are some caveats to take into account. Key among them: From an original list of 20,000, only 233 of the 1,529 physicians who were actually surveyed in the study responded, which means they very possibly may not be representative of physicians in general.