--- title: You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor: Study description: A study by Harvard University researchers is saying you might want to rethink making Marcus Welby, M.D. your model physician canonical: https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-18T14:29:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:59:52.401Z article:section: Science og:title: You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says og:description: The study found older doctors tended to have higher mortality rates og:url: https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt312258fc216a5a08/6988cdd8cd1bba6435705425/marcus-welby-md.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: harvard-study-doctors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says twitter:description: The study found older doctors tended to have higher mortality rates twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt312258fc216a5a08/6988cdd8cd1bba6435705425/marcus-welby-md.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 18, 2017 2:29 PM UTC  Robert Young as Marcus Welby, M.D. Robert Young as Marcus Welby, M.D.ABC Photo Archives—Getty by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 18, 2017 2:29 PM UTC A study by [Harvard University](http://time.com/money/4544302/harvard-strike-dining-workers-agreement/) researchers says you might want to rethink making an older doctor your physician. The study, which was [published in the _British Medical Journal_,](http://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j1797) showed older doctors tended to have higher mortality rates than their younger counterparts. More than 700,000 patients and nearly 19,000 physicians participated in the study. All of the patients in the study were 65 and over and on [Medicare](http://time.com/4653571/aarp-paul-ryan-medicare/). After adjusting for patient, doctor and hospital characteristics, the study’s findings revealed that patient mortality rates steadily increased with a doctor’s age. Doctors under 40 had a [mortality rate](http://time.com/4110037/pregnant-mortality-maternal-mortality/) of 10.8%, doctors aged 40 to 49 had a rate of 11.1%, doctors 50 to 59 had a rate of 11.3%, and doctors 60 and over had a rate of 12.1%, according to the study. You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor: Study ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/"},"headline":"You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says","datePublished":"2017-05-18T14:29:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:59:52.401Z","description":"The study found older doctors tended to have higher mortality rates","url":"https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/","keywords":["medicine","study","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt312258fc216a5a08/6988cdd8cd1bba6435705425/marcus-welby-md.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt312258fc216a5a08/6988cdd8cd1bba6435705425/marcus-welby-md.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"harvard-study-doctors","caption":"ROBERT YOUNG","creditText":"ABC Photo Archives—Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4784069/younger-doctor-age-mortality-rate-study/","name":"You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says"}}]}] ```