Controversial TV physician Dr. Mehmet Oz hasn’t had a great year what with his disastrous testimony before Congress. (2020 Update; Dr. Oz recently had a good show on stem cell clinics so that’s something. I discussed issues with his staff prior to the show.)
Now Dr. Oz has been slammed by a group doctors from across the country. Update: Orac points out that these doctors have some of their own baggage when it comes to science.
They reportedly want him removed from Columbia because of alleged quackery.
These other doctors who want Dr. Oz’s neck don’t mince words according to the NY Daily News:
“He’s a quack and a fake and a charlatan,” said Dr. Henry Miller of Stanford, the first person to sign the poison-pen letter.
No pulling of the punches there by Miller (pic below).
That’s got to hurt for Dr. Oz, especially with other events this year including the green coffee bean scandal, a story broken by Ivan Oransky.
His Congressional testimony performance was a far cry from his bombastic circus-like persona in his TV show.
Before Congress, he was rather meek and couldn’t really defend himself from charges that on his show he sells hype and could be misleading his audience. This contrast was reminiscent of the scene in The Wizard of Oz when the wizard is revealed for what he really is behind the curtain.
I haven’t been an Dr. Oz fan myself to put it mildly, in part because he did a terrible performance on stem cells with Michael J. Fox on Oprah.
Miller of Stanford Med School explained his thinking on why Columbia has chosen to keep Oz:
“I think I know the motivation at Columbia,” he continued. “They’re star-struck, and like having on their faculty the best-known doctor in the country. But the fact is that his advice endangers patients, and this doesn’t seem to faze them. Whether they’re hoping Oprah will come and endow a center for homeopathic medicine, I don’t know.”
It seems like Oz has sort of had his cake and eaten it too over the years. Being a real doctor at Columbia and then playing this wizard-like showman on his TV show. Will that dual life end? Maybe not any time soon.
Columbia continues to defend him:
“Columbia is committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members’ freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussions,” said Columbia University Medical Center spokesman Doug Levy.”
Here is the full text of the letter as posted on the Washington Post website:
Lee Goldman, M.D.
Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine
Columbia University
Dear Dr. Goldman:
I am writing to you on behalf of myself and the undersigned colleagues below, all of whom are distinguished physicians.
We are surprised and dismayed that Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons would permit Dr. Mehmet Oz to occupy a faculty appointment, let alone a senior administrative position in the Department of Surgery.
As described here and here, as well as in other publications, Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine, as well as baseless and relentless opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops. Worst of all, he has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain.
Thus, Dr. Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments [sic] 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.
Sincerely yours,
Henry I. Miller, M.D.
Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy
& Public Policy
Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Scott W. Atlas, M.D.
David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow
Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Jack Fisher, M.D.
Professor of Surgery (emeritus)
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
Shelley Fleet, M.D.
Anesthesiologist
Longwood, FL
Gordon N. Gill, M.D.
Dean (emeritus) of Translational Medicine
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA
Michael H. Mellon, M.D.
Pediatric Allergist
San Diego, CA
GIlbert Ross, M.D.
President (Acting) and Executive Director
American Council on Science and Health
New York, NY
Samuel Schneider, M.D.
Psychiatrist
Princeton, NJ
Glenn Swogger Jr. M.D.
Director of the Will Menninger Center for Applied Behavioral Sciences (retired)
The Menninger Foundation
Topeka, KS
Joel E. Tepper, M.D.
Hector MacLean Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research
Dept of Radiation Oncology
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Chapel Hill, NC
When Dr. Oz bizarrely said that human embryonic stem cells were now obsolete because IPSC’s existed, that was the end of him as far as I was concerned. That was back in 2012, so he’s been persona non grata for me for quite a while!
OK, so Dr Oz doesn’t like GMO and Dr Miller does. Reading the links complaining about Dr Oz, I’m astounded to learn that:
“… glyphosate has lower overall health impacts than white vinegar (aka the chemical acetic acid) when used as a herbicide.”
So what does glyphosate taste like? Perhaps we should be using it in our salad dressings?
Probably not: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25253933
On the other hand, glyphosate does kill plants and many bacteria. And, believe it or not, we have lots of bacteria in our bodies and many of them are important for our well being. So is Dr Miller sure that all those good bacteria are safe from glyphosate?
Probably not: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23224412
These “super Docs” seem to be indulging in the same sort of nonsense as Dr Oz. They are speculating about stuff that they do not know.