Study Finds Doctors May Allow Politics To Seep Into Practice

Does it matter if your doctor is a Democrat or a Republican? A new study says oftentimes, the answer is yes.

If you're talking with your doctor about marijuana or abortion — health issues that are also political issues — you may get different counsel and treatment recommendations based on your doctor's political leanings.

Eitan Hersch, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University, conducted a study of 20,000 doctors in 29 states. When presented with several different "vignettes" describing a patient and his or her health issues, the study found that Republican and Democratic doctors only approached treatment options differently on three topics: marijuana, abortion and firearms.

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Carey Goldberg is the editor of WBUR's CommonHealth blog. She tweets @CommonHealth.