Texas Doctor Gary Tigges Apologizes For Gender Pay Gap Comments After Backlash

Texas doctor, Garry Tigges, who came under fire for saying the gender pay gap in the medical field was justified as women "do not work as hard" as men, apologized Sunday for his comments.

"I have heard from several trusted female physician colleagues who disagree with and are deeply hurt and offended by the comments I made to the Dallas Medical Journal regarding pay equity among female and male physicians. … I sincerely apologize to all female physicians for my comments and the pain they have caused," Tigges said in a statement which was published on the website, Plano Internal Medicine Associates. According to the website, 53-year-old Tigges is one of the founders of Plano Internal Medicine in 1996. Among the other two founders is a woman.

Tigges was criticized for his comments on the gender-based wage gap in the medical field, which was published in September edition — a “Women in Medicine” issue — of “Dallas Medical Journal.”

His comment was one among eight responses which were published as part of a two-page feature under the section “Big and Bright Ideas” on how female doctor’s salaries were about two-thirds of men in the same field. The section asked industry professionals to share their thoughts and provide a potential solution to the gender pay gap rampant in the medical field.

He told the Journal his female colleagues were paid less as they didn’t work as hard and didn’t put in as much time as men in the field.

“Yes, there is a pay gap. Female physicians do not work as hard and do not see as many patients as male physicians. … Most of the time, their priority or something else ... family, social, whatever,” Tigges comment on the journal read. “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.”

He’d earlier responded to criticism on what he said to the journal and said the comments printed in the journal were misconstrued and that he was unaware of the fact they would be made public.

"My response sounds terrible and horrible and doesn't reflect what I was really trying to say,” Tigges said, reported the Washington Post. “I'm not saying female physicians should be paid less, but they earn less because of other factors."

The comments received severe backlash on social media platforms, which led to Tigges deactivating his Twitter account, as well as the company website which has since resumed normal functioning.

“Doximity 2018 Physician Compensation Report”, a study by Doximity shows the gender wage pay gap increased slightly from 2016 to 2017. On average, female doctors earned $105,000, or 27.7 percent, less than men in the same field in 2017, whereas, in 2016, that figure was at 26.5 percent, ($91,284), when compared to men, the study showed. The report was formulated with answers from 65,000 U.S. physicians from over 40 specialties.

Another study, “Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2018”, showed male physicians generally earn about 18 percent more than female physicians. It said male specialists earn about 36 percent more than female specialists. The study also showed more women than men work part-time as physicians. The study was based on answers from 20,329 respondents across more than 29 specialties.