Physicians as Patients—The Use of Obstetric Technology in Physician Families

Birth records of King County, Washington, for 1980 through 1982 were reviewed to study the use of obstetric technology by physician and nonphysician families. The sample of 524 births to physician families was compared with 657 births to nonphysician families randomly selected from upper income census tracts. Though similar in demographic and medical characteristics and pregnancy outcomes, the two groups differed greatly in use of amniocentesis and cesarean section. Physician families used amniocentesis 1.65 times more often than nonphysician families and women physicians were 3 times more likely to have the procedure (relative risk [RR] 3.09). For female physicians 30 to 40 years old, the RR was 5.54. Similarly, physician rates for primary cesarean section were 1.56 times higher and rates for women physicians were twice as high as for controls (RR 2.14). This study suggests higher utilization rates among physicians for some procedures. These findings may foreshadow increases in utilization in the general population.