Today's longread is a profile of Dr. Oz, who has become famously ordained by Oprah as "America's Doctor." Frankly, I have some huge qualms with Dr. Oz's approach. To me, it is one thing to openly recognize what the traditional medical community doesn't know or understand and encourage patients to be aware of these limitations. It is another thing entirely to then open up the floodgates and essentially say "hey, because there are some things traditional medicine can't explain, which means that we can't discredit ANY of these other ridiculous claims." I don't see how Dr. Oz could call those elements of what he does legitimate medicine; instead, it's just great entertainment. And as some of the quoted doctors in this piece articulate, Dr. Oz should choose between whether his first priority is to be a doctor or an entertainer.
"The Operator" by Michael Specter
Published in the New Yorker, February 4, 2013
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/02/04/130204fa_fact_specter?currentPage=all
Eric
He seems to be getting progressively worse. It's interesting how he gets further from the mainstream or logic as he grows more famous. The more power he has the easier it is for him to completely make things up. This was like reading about people who reject evolution or reject global warming. Just because people are smart doesn't mean they support "smart" things.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. The weird thing is that he made his name based on conventional medicine and now openly challenges it. In my mind, he definitely gets some things right -- I agree that patient-doctor communication needs to change for many people and that it's ok for people to question their doctors (including about alternative medicine).
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how he's able to maintain his credibility despite pushing products that have virtually no support in credible science. I just wish he used his fame to push science and medicine forward rather than to get it muddle up as entertainment.
Eric
A lot of times though people that are nuts have to act "normal" in order to get the visibility they want to spread their ideas. I'm not saying that is what he did but perhaps has he became famous he was far more willing to stretch what he believes in to get more famous. Seems like a fairly calculated play on his part. I'm not surprised he maintains credibility, again look how many ridiculous people/ideas are out there and think about all the weight loss articles and quick fix things we've discussed. He appeals to people because he provides and easy way to "save your life" or "get skinny now!" and that is all people really want.
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