iStock/ThinkstockBy DR. JENNIFER ASHTON, ABC News Senior Medical Contributor

Are female doctors better than their male counterparts?

In a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, Harvard researchers looked at whether female doctors outperformed male doctors. The study’s authors concluded that approximately 32,000 fewer patients would die each year if male physicians could achieve the same outcomes as female physicians.

The reason? They’re not exactly sure, but here’s my take:

As a patient, I don’t care whether my doctor is a man or a woman as long as he or she is smart and kind. And as a doctor, I think that excellent medical care should be blind to gender or sex. However, if it is discovered that women use different communication or nurturing skills and that can be shown to save lives, then that would be a target in teaching and training new and current physicians.

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