Older Doctors Are Losing Their Edge—And It Can Have a Scary Impact On You

You don’t need to go full Doogie Howser, but it may be in your best interest to find a younger doctor. A new study from a research university called Harvard found that patient mortality rates increase with the physician’s age. The effect is slight but still significant.

Researchers examined more than 70,000 hospital admissions for elderly patients under the supervision of more than 19,000 physicians. The mortality rate for patients with doctors under 30 was 10.8 percent, while that figure rose to 11.1 percent for doctors between 40 and 49. For doctors between 50 and 59, the rate goes up to 11.3 percent, and it jumps up to 12.1 percent for doctors older than 60.