Plano physician apologizes for saying women doctors "do not work as hard"

A Plano doctor has apologized but not walked back some controversial comments he made about women in the medical field.

Dr. Gary Tigges made what many see as a sexist comment in the Dallas Medical Journal saying he thinks female doctors do not work as hard as their male counterparts.

Tigges wrote, "Yes, there is a pay gap. Female physicians do not work as hard and do not see as many patients as male physicians. This is because they choose 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."

Dr. Tigges is founder of Plano Internal Medicine Associates with an office at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Plano

After his comments sparked a firestorm on social media he issued an apology on his office website

It reads in part, "I sincerely apologize to all female phsyicians for my comments and the pain they have caused."

"The science doesn't back up that working part time or choice of specialty or all those things are the material gap in the salary gap in medicine," Said Dr. Dara Kass, an emergency room physician in New York City and founder of a group called FeminEM, "All those things have been looked at and they are not the reason women physicians make less than men."

The Dallas Medical Society has also been criticized for publishing Dr. Tigges' comments.

It responded about what it called the "now infamous response" by stating that, "after considering the purpose of the series, we decided to publish it but make no mistake, this is not the opinion of the Dallas County Medical Society."

"The question they asked is, 'Why do you think there's a pay gap?' That's not even the right question. The question is 'There is a pay gap. What can we do to fix it?'" said Dr. Kass, "I would say thank you to Dr. Tigges for say something so inflammatory that everyone is paying attention to the salary gap for women doctors!"