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Dr. Oz promises to stop promoting pseudoscience. Should we believe him?
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2015/09/16/dr-oz-promises-to-stop-promoting-pseudoscience-should-we-believe-him/
Regular readers of this blog will find it no surprise that I don’t think much of Dr. Mehmet Oz. The reason, of course, is that his daily television show, The Dr. Oz Show, has been a font of misinformation about medicine almost since it began airing six years ago. It’s not for nothing that I long ago labeled him “America’s Quack.” Simply searching for the name Mehmet Oz on this blog will quickly produce examples of the many times when he’s credulously promoted quackery and pseudoscience such as homeopathy (The One Quackery To Rule Them All), faith healing, fear mongering about GMOs, and promotion of antivaccine views (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., even!). He has even sunk so low as to feature psychic scammers like John Edward and Theresa Caputo as though they might have a legitimate role in health care.
Truly, Dr. Oz has shown that he has no shame.
Over the last few seasons of his show, Dr. Oz became increasingly shameless in his promotion of pseudoscience, in particular various dubious weight loss supplements, such that in June 2014 he was hauled before Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) committee for his unscrupulous promotion of such unproven weight loss aids. By last fall, it had gotten so bad that Dr. Oz’s social media people tried to do a an “Ask Dr. Oz” segment on Twitter under the hashtag #OzsInbox. Let’s just say that it backfired spectacularly and hilariously, much to the amusement (and schadenfreude) of skeptics everywhere. Most recently, a group of physicians wrote a public letter to Lee Goldman, MD, the Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University complaining that Dr. Oz is faculty at Columbia protesting his continued presence in good standing as a member of Columbia’s faculty. Unfortunately, the messenger was less than pure, having been primarily industry shills provoked by Dr. Oz’s expressed distrust of GMOs rather than his quackery. Predictably, Dr. Oz used his television show to fire back devastatingly. More effectively, a medical student named Ben Mazer used the example of Dr. Oz’s promotion of quackery to drive the passage of a resolution by the American Medical Association designed to develop ethics guidelines for media use by doctors and disciplinary pathways for doctors who abuse media to promote medical misinformation. It might as well have been called the “Dr. Oz resolution.”
Given Dr. Oz’s uneven history (over the last couple of years in particular), I was rather interested to see headlines like After Months of Criticism, ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ Makes Big Changes and Television Dr. Mehmet Oz returning with ‘heal thyself’ goal.
From the first story:
Imagine that! Using actual medical experts with advice based in research! Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, right. Dr. Oz promised to do the same thing after his public humiliation on Capital Hill by Claire McCaskill in June 2014. It only took a year for him to actually follow through with his promise, or at least to claim to follow through with it.
Truly, Dr. Oz has shown that he has no shame.
Over the last few seasons of his show, Dr. Oz became increasingly shameless in his promotion of pseudoscience, in particular various dubious weight loss supplements, such that in June 2014 he was hauled before Senator Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) committee for his unscrupulous promotion of such unproven weight loss aids. By last fall, it had gotten so bad that Dr. Oz’s social media people tried to do a an “Ask Dr. Oz” segment on Twitter under the hashtag #OzsInbox. Let’s just say that it backfired spectacularly and hilariously, much to the amusement (and schadenfreude) of skeptics everywhere. Most recently, a group of physicians wrote a public letter to Lee Goldman, MD, the Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University complaining that Dr. Oz is faculty at Columbia protesting his continued presence in good standing as a member of Columbia’s faculty. Unfortunately, the messenger was less than pure, having been primarily industry shills provoked by Dr. Oz’s expressed distrust of GMOs rather than his quackery. Predictably, Dr. Oz used his television show to fire back devastatingly. More effectively, a medical student named Ben Mazer used the example of Dr. Oz’s promotion of quackery to drive the passage of a resolution by the American Medical Association designed to develop ethics guidelines for media use by doctors and disciplinary pathways for doctors who abuse media to promote medical misinformation. It might as well have been called the “Dr. Oz resolution.”
Given Dr. Oz’s uneven history (over the last couple of years in particular), I was rather interested to see headlines like After Months of Criticism, ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ Makes Big Changes and Television Dr. Mehmet Oz returning with ‘heal thyself’ goal.
From the first story:
Dr. Oz will focus his entire upcoming season on the mind-body connection and make some changes in his show format to be more inclusive of the audience. (Photo: Getty Images)
After enduring months of intense criticism, Dr. Mehmet Oz is changing the direction of his show.
The entire upcoming season of The Dr. Oz Show — which kicks off Monday, September 14 — will focus on the mind-body connection and feature a partnership with former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD.
In the past, Dr. Oz has come under fire for the advice given on his show. Now, the newly focused program will use medical and other experts whose advice is based in research.
Imagine that! Using actual medical experts with advice based in research! Where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, right. Dr. Oz promised to do the same thing after his public humiliation on Capital Hill by Claire McCaskill in June 2014. It only took a year for him to actually follow through with his promise, or at least to claim to follow through with it.
Wonder if he'll actually do it.
Sid
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
As soon as one hears "quantum" in the same sentence as "consciousness" that person is in deep sin.
http://www.insolitology.com/tests/credo.htm
Sid
10 Use the word quantum in a sentence, despite not knowing what it means. For a more impressive effect, use it with the name of your favorite superstition - "quantum dowsing" sure sounds mighty serious.
Sid
