Among the distinctions:

When asked what they would say to a woman who’d had prior abortions, but wasn’t currently pregnant, GOP doctors “were twice as likely as their Democratic counterparts to say they'd discourage any future abortions and 35 percent more likely to discuss so-called mental health aspects of abortion,” study co-author Eitan Hersh, a Yale political science professor, told the Bee.

When asked what advice they would offer to a male recreational marijuana user, Republican physicians were 64 percent more likely to lay out the risks of marijuana use than were Democrat-voting doctors. The GOP doctors were also 47 percent more likely to suggest cutting back on smoking marijuana.

When asked what advice they would give to patients concerning the existence of firearms in the home, Democrats were 66 percent more likely to tell patients not to store guns at home if they had small children living there. Republicans were far more likely to discuss the safe home storage of firearms than to suggest they not be stored at home, the survey says.

The study authors say their main takeaway is patients probably don’t know they’ll likely receive different feedback on certain medical issues depending on the politics of their physician. While it might seem awkward or intrusive to inquire about a doctor’s political leanings, doing so could lead to a better doctor-patient relationship.

"We don't leave things at the door," says Dr. Matthew Goldenberg, a Yale psychiatrist who co-authored the research. "Both patients and practitioners should be aware that there are these biases."