Canadian and US scientists say death and rehospitalisation rates among hospitalised patients are lower when patients have a female rather than a male doctor. The team looked at outcomes for nearly a million adult inpatients in Ontario, Canada, and found people treated by female doctors were less likely to die within 30 days, and less likely to end up back in hospital, than those treated by male doctors. The differences were modest, but the pattern held up under statistical testing, they say. For patients with a female doctor, 12.3% died within 30 days, compared with 13.7% among those with a male doctor. And 18.6% of patients with a female doctor ended up back in hospital, compared with 18.9% of those with a male doctor. The reasons for the differences remain mysterious, and the study authors suggest further work should look into this.