'A fake and a charlatan': Doctors call for Dr. Oz to be dismissed from Columbia surgery faculty over alleged quack science
MANUEL BALCE CENETA/APDr. Mehmet Oz, host of "The Dr. Oz Show" and vice chair of the surgery department at Columbia University, is under fire from a group of prominent doctors.
Dr. Oz doesn’t walk or talk like a duck — but 10 prominent critics say he’s still a quack.
The group of nationally known doctors, in a lacerating letter to his boss, called for the TV doctor’s dismissal from the prestigious post of vice chairman of Columbia University’s department of surgery.
“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.
“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.”
The one-page letter was also signed by Dr. Gilbert Ross, executive director of the American Counsel on Science and Health.
“We find it a shame that he has fled from the ethical and responsible practice of medicine to exploit his television popularity,” said the Manhattan-based doctor.
He ripped into the Harvard-educated Dr. Mehmet Oz for the “various quack propositions that he is promulgating on his TV show — magical mystery cures.”
Calls to a spokesman for Oz for a response were not returned Thursday.
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Columbia University said in a statement that the school was “committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding all faculty members’ freedom of expression.”
The pull-no-punches attack on the surgeon was sent to Dr. Lee Goldman, dean of faculties for Health Sciences and Medicine at the Ivy League school.
“Dr. Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both,” the letter concluded.
“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.”
“He’s a quack and a fake and a charlatan,” said Dr. Henry Miller of Stanford, the first person to sign the letter.
Although his television duties forced Oz to cut back on his hours, he remains a presence at Columbia as a researcher, teacher and physician.
Columbia, in a statement Thursday, defended its decision to keep Oz around.
“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.
The salary for Oz’s faculty position was unclear. He joined the faculty in 1993. Prior to his television fame, Oz — while not a household name — was a nationally known cardiothoracic surgeon.
It’s not the first time the 54-year-old Oz has come under fire for his on-air persona. At a Washington appearance in June 2014, a Senate panel blasted Oz for his endorsement of “miracle” weight loss products that didn’t work.
“I don’t know why you need to say this stuff, because you know it’s not true,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri).
The letter to Columbia mentioned the doctor’s endorsement of green coffee bean extract, raspberry ketones and the pumpkin-like fruit garcinia cambogia.
“He has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain,” read the pointed missive.
Miller said more physicians are interested in attaching their names to the Oz-bashing letter.
“Doctors who have a respect for evidence-based medicine and science,” he said.
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