As I've said before and will no doubt say again, we are
bombarded with information about food, diet, nutrition, health and fitness. It
can be hard to discern fact from fiction and we turn to people with appropriate
credentials for help. But people like Dr. Oz undermine the entire healthcare and
research profession. His careless and
reckless promotion of products and unproven health gimmicks on his
TV show is dangerous. As a cardiologist, I assume he subscribes to basic
standards of care that include practicing evidence-based medicine. As a
physician, he is a medical scientist. As a physician he has ethical
obligations.
Because he is a physician, viewers assume Dr. Oz
provides accurate and reasonable information about products and treatments that
will help. And sometimes he does.
Unfortunately, he also provides lots of information about quack products, remedies and treatments on his television show.
The Dr. Oz Show exists solely because Mehmet Oz, MD is
an articulate, charismatic physician. He is a cardiologist at Columbia
University. It is reasonable for Dr. Oz’s viewers to expect that he would apply
an evidence-based, scientific and ethical approach to his TV show as, I assume,
he does in his clinical practice. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Our entire healthcare
system is built on a foundation that people trust doctors and he continues to
abuse this trust. Even after being called out on this by Congress and by
medical professionals, Mehmet Oz refuses to take any responsibility or accountability
for his actions. Dr. Oz, you are not a TV host like Meredith Vieira, Regis or
Oprah. You cannot market yourself as a physician and then act irresponsibly.
That is not the way it works and you know that.
I usually sublimate
my loathing of Dr. Oz because I know people watch his show and enjoy it,
whether for entertainment or for information. I know some people find his
information and explanations of biologically related health concepts helpful
and useful. That is good. So, I often hold my tongue and refrain from writing
about him. I can’t hold back anymore because of the egregiousness of his
disrespect of science, medicine and public health. I am not alone.
An example of advertising from around the 1890s. It's a product called Hamlin’s Wizard Oil. They said it was “the greatest family remedy for rheumatism,
neuralgia, toothache, headache, diphtheria, sore throat, lame back, sprains,
bruises, corns, cramps, colic, diarrhea, and all pain and inflammation! Sold by
all druggists.” Sound familiar? (Dr. Oz has not promoted this product, to my knowledge! Of course, I don't think it exists anymore).
-
By U.S. Library of
Congress, from a print by Hughes Lithographers, Chicago. [Public domain], via
Wikimedia Commons
Dr. Oz and Columbia University
As you have probably heard by now, a group of physicians
wrote a letter to Columbia University asking that Dr. Oz be removed from their medical
faculty (Dr. Oz's profile at Columbia University). He is not just on
faculty there, he is the vice chair of the surgery department.
According to an excerpt from the letter, the physicians wrote that “...Dr.
Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgements
about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both. Whatever the
nature of his pathology, members of the public are being misled and endangered,
which makes Dr. Oz’s presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical
institution unacceptable.” I completely agree. So do more than 1000 physicians,
at least according to a social networking survey the results of which were
reported by Tanya Lewis with LiveScience.com on April 24, 2015 and picked up by Yahoo! News on April 25, 2015.
- UT San Diego, April 23, 2015: Dr. Oz goes to war with his critics
- NPR, April 17, 2015: Physicians urge Columbia to fire Dr. Oz for promoting quack treatments
- ABC News Go, April 16, 2015: Physicians want Dr. Oz gone from Columbia Medical
- US News, April 16, 2015: Dr. Oz needs to go, other docs say
Columbia University disagrees. A university spokesperson told a
reporter from the Associated Press that the university is “committed to the
principle of academic freedom.” As am I, Columbia University. I strongly
believe in academic freedom. However, do you really expect me to believe that The Dr. Oz Show is an example of academic freedom? From what I've learned, Dr. Oz is an administrator at Columbia, so I’m not sure if academic
freedom is really the same issue for him as it would be for a regular faculty
member. Also, what academic freedom of his needs protecting? At best, he
overstates the benefits of unfounded quack treatments and products and profits from it. The public needs protecting from him. I’m disappointed that Columbia University views this as academic
freedom and wants to be affiliated with this.
Follow the yellow brick road... all the way to a Senate hearing in Washington
Do you remember back in the summer of 2014 when the Senate
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection called Dr. Oz to a hearing? They called him
out about his promotion of quack weight-loss products. Being asked by a U.S.
Senate subcommittee to explain himself did nothing to encourage Mehmet Oz, MD
to reform his sketchy ways. Oh that sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical
bigot- oops! Sorry, that is a description of Franklin M. Hart, Jr from 9 to 5 (IMDB - 9 to 5)
and not Dr. Oz. As far as I can tell,
Oz is a bit of a liar with an enormous ego – a cardiologist hell-bent on riding
the laxative-laden slippery slope all the way down from respected surgeon to
snake oil salesman.
Here are some articles about when Dr. Oz went to Washington,
DC:
- Washington Post: How a fake doctor made millions from ‘the Dr. Oz Effect’ and a bogus weight-loss supplement
- CNN, June 19, 2014: Congressional hearing investigates Dr. Oz 'miracle' weight loss claims
- LA Times, June 18, 2014: Dr. Oz doubles down on bogus weight loss products at Senate hearing
Dr. Oz says it’s not his fault
Dr. Oz’s reach is immense and he is probably the most
influential physician in the U.S. When his name is associated with a product
more people buy it. When his name is associated with a treatment, more people
try it. It’s not surprising that manufacturers want a piece of Dr. Oz – they want
on his show, they want his name on their goods. According to Dr. Oz’s team, a
lot of products carry his endorsement without actually having it. At least that
is what it says on his website.
In May 2013, the Dr. Oz Show launched their “It’s Not Me” campaign to
try and dissociate Dr. Oz from companies that attached his name to products and
treatments but did not get his permission (and, I speculate, pay for the rights
to use his name). The details of the Dr. Oz Show’s position about this issue
and problem can be found at The Dr. Oz Show, May 6, 2013: "The Dr. Oz Show" Launches "IT'S NOT ME" Campaign to Inform and Warn Viewers About Rogue Marketers Engaging in Copyright Infringement And Illegal Use of The Dr. Oz Name
To me, the problem of name rights and usage was foreseeable.
Talk shows are venues to sell things – products, remedies, movie tickets,
books, etc. A talk show about health, disease, dieting, fitness, and wellness
has a finite number of legitimate topics. At some point, topics and issues are
invented. Viewers are reeled in with promises of magic cures. As Dr. Oz knows,
there is no magic and there are no shortcuts when it comes to heath.
Final thoughts
I’ll leave you this week with a link
to Dr. Oz’s response to the physician letter calling for Columbia University to
remove him from the faculty. This is the response posted by The Dr. Oz Show on
their website. It is biased and it does not address the issues in the letter. The context of the physicians’ letter is not
addressed. He responds with deflection and distraction. He discusses other
non-relevant issues. These may be issues worth discussing in other contexts but not as his response to allegations of his
promotion of quack-treatments and bogus science. He does NOT address the issues
discussed by the physicians. This is propaganda. I find this sad and scary –
scary because so many millions of people will view this and take it at face
value.
The other link I wanted to post but cannot find yet is for a
segment on the April 26, 2015 episode of Last
Week Tonight.
Link to John Oliver's clip about Dr. OZ
Link to John Oliver's clip about Dr. OZ
