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In Reply: In response to Drs Moody and Hruza, it is correct that to accurately compare physicians' salaries it is essential to control for purchasing power parity (how much a comparable dollar buys in each country). The data on physicians' compensation we presented in our Commentary did control for purchasing power parity. What these data show is that (in purchasing power parity) US specialists earned an average of $230 000 (2004 dollars) while specialists in France earned an average of $149 000; the average for developed countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) was $113 000.¹ Also of importance may be that more physicians are specialists in the United States while other countries favor generalists.

Contrary to the claim by Dr Motti, many surveys of US residents suggest that they have substantial trust in their physicians. Typically, these surveys report trust levels of between 77 and 87 on a 100-point scale.^2-3 Consequently, lack . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD
eemanuel@nih.gov
Department of Bioethics
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland

Victor R. Fuchs, PhD
Department of Economics
Stanford University
Stanford, California

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