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I am a male FP. Many of the points in this article are false. If I do a cesarean section and my female counterpart does the same procedure, we earn exactly the same money. The article suggests that women doing the same work as men earn less. If we use the same fee book, with no gender modifier (there is none), then the payment is always the same. The book does not ask if the MD is male or female and pay accordingly.
If my female partner does 2 cesarean sections, she receives twice as much money as I do, because I only did one section. This article does not reflect complexities of procedures. An abscess drainage of a scrotum is way more dangerous than that of a vulva. Scrotal tissue is in direct contact with peritoneum. Vulva are not. To counter this weak argument take the example of vasectomy vs tubal ligation. Billing for a tubal ligation in a female is paid way higher than a vasectomy. This argument is very weak.
I do not receive as many referrals for sections as my female colleague. I believe that part of this is because she naturally has more Obstetric patients (being a women and women being more comfortable with a woman MD) and her female colleagues rather refer to her than to me for the same reason. My other female colleague, a surgeon, receives all the female breast surgery referrals. Her male colleagues are deprived of this part of their practice.
My surgical colleague today did 7 scopes (C+G) and earned about $2500.00. I gave anesthesia for all these cases and earned about $1200.00. Both complex skills, but my salary was half hers. We spent exactly the same amount of time, with the same procedure and same patient, but she out earned me. This is because of the complexity of her work vs mine.
I completely agree that bias toward women and people of colour persists, but I do see many flaws in this article and it generalises so broadly that it borders on untruth. If we want to truly get to a place of true equality, let's be honest and be clear.
I obviously need education on this issue and would welcome a discussion.
My wife is a MD. So, even if I was a male chauvinist (which I hope I am not), I have a financial interest in making salaries equal for equal work. So, I should support the argument of this article. But my conscience and experience tells me that it is not true.
Please respond to my thoughts.
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