It's official: family doctors are good for your health

Contrary to a widespread belief that doctors do more harm than good—borne out by declines in mortality during doctors' strikes—a new study shows that doctors actually do save lives. Its results show that one additional primary care doctor in an area can lower mortality in that area by around 2%.

The authors, from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, the US Department of Health and Human Services at Bethesda, Maryland, and New York University, say that their results indicate that increasing resources for primary care may be one way to help offset the effects of disadvantage on health and that primary care can help reduce socioeconomic disparities. …