A doctor from Plano, Texas, has apologised for saying the gender pay gap in medicine is fair because female physicians “do not work as hard and do not see as many patients” as men.

Dr Gary Tigges’s remarks were published by the Dallas Medical Journal, in a section entitled “Big and Bright Ideas”. Women did not work as hard as men, he said, 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.”

He added: “Nothing needs to be ‘done’ about this unless female physicians actually want to work harder and put in the hours. If not, they should be paid less. That is fair.”

In the social media storm that followed, responses included a request to “please tell him that he’s just pissed off a few thousand HARD WORKING women physicians” and: “These kinds of views … are not supported by actual data. The gender pay gap is not ‘fair’. It is discrimination.”

According to the 2018 Medscape Physician Compensation Report, among primary care physicians in the US men earn 18% more than women, up from 16% more the year before. Male specialists earn 36% more than female specialists.

The Medscape report also found that more female doctors, 22%, than male, 12%, work part-time. A 2017 study by JAMA Internal Medicine found that female doctors with children spend “more time on parenting and domestic tasks” than men.

Medscape also said white US doctors of either sex earn more than their non-white counterparts.

A report published in March 2018 by Doximity also found a widening gender pay gap. In 2017, it said, “female doctors earned 27.7% less ($105,000) than their male counterparts, compared to 2016 when female doctors earned 26.5% ($91,284) less”.

The report also found “no medical specialty … in which female physicians earned more than male physicians”.

In a statement posted to his practice website on Sunday, Tigges said: “I have heard from several trusted female physician colleagues who disagree with and are deeply hurt and offended by the comments I made.

“I want to thank them for reaching out to me and sharing their concerns. I now understand more clearly how intricate this issue is and that there are ways we can work together to resolve these disparities.”

Tigges also said he had “worked closely with numerous female physicians for nearly three decades and have witnessed nothing but compassion, diligence and professionalism. I sincerely apologize to all female physicians for my comments and the pain they have caused.”

The Washington Post reported that the Dallas Medical Journal said it published Tigges’s thoughts because they represented a common perception that needed to be discussed, and would publish responses in its next issue.

Dr Gabriela Zandomeni, chair of the committee that publishes the journal, said: “The danger is in the physicians who think this but do not express it, or who justify it.”