Texas doctor claims female physicians paid less because they 'do not work as hard'

PLANO, Texas – A Plano doctor has come under fire because of his comments on the gender pay gap in the medical field.

Dr. Gary Tigges, who is listed as the founder of Plano Internal Medicine on the practice's website, was recently quoted in the Dallas Journal of Medicine saying that a pay gap exists because women do not work as hard as men.

"Yes, there is a pay gap," Tigges reportedly said. "Female physicians do not work as hard and do not see as many patients as male physicians. This is because they chose to, or they simply don’t want to be rushed, or they don’t want to work the long hours.

"Most of the time, their priority is something else… family, social, whatever. Nothing needs to be 'done' about this unless female physicians actually want to work harder and put in the hours. If not, they should be paid less. That is fair."  

The comments ran in the "Dallas Medical Journal's" "Women in Medicine" issue.

Tigges told the Dallas Morning News that he was unaware his comments would be published and was replying to an email from the medical journal. He added that he made those comments based on data he read that stated women saw fewer patients due to their commitment to family and other obligations, thus leading to less revenue.

He told the Dallas publication that "the economic reality is that doctors are paid by the number of patients seen."

Several female doctors replied to Tigges remarks

"Dear Dr. Tigges: I would love to fill in your knowledge gaps but I’m tired from working 24+ hours doing heart transplants," one female physician wrote on Twitter. "Based on national anesth gender pay gap data, the last 5 hours of which I worked for free. I guess you think that’s ok though Bc I’m a mom of 4."

Another female physician said she "(called) BS" on Tigges' remarks.

"As a female family doc who puts in 60-80 hours of work each week, who provides excellent care, who is raising a young family with a husband who is my equal, who cares for frail elderly parents, who leads @OntariosDoctors — I call BS on Dr Tigges’ condescending comments," she wrote.

Tigges told the Morning News he does not stand by his comments.