Doctors to University: Fire That 'Quack' Dr. Oz

His presence on faculty is 'unacceptable,' they tell Columbia
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 17, 2015 5:14 AM CDT
Updated Apr 17, 2015 7:54 AM CDT
Doctors to University: Fire That Quack Dr. Oz
Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks during a safety clinic hosted by the NFL and the Chicago Bears for mothers of youth football players, Oct. 29, 2013.   (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles)

Celebrity TV doctor and magic bean salesman Dr. Mehmet Oz also has a prestigious post at Columbia University, which some esteemed colleagues in the medical world find absurd. In a letter to the dean of the Columbia University medical school, where Oz is vice chairman of the surgery department, 10 doctors call his presence on the faculty "unacceptable," citing his "disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine," and accusing him of displaying an "egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures" for financial gain, Skepchick reports. Oz, the doctors write, is guilty of "either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgements about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both."

Dr. Henry Miller of Stanford, the first doctor to sign the letter, tells the New York Daily News that Oz is "a quack and a fake and a charlatan." He says Columbia only has him on the faculty because "they're star-struck"—and may be "hoping Oprah will come and endow a center for homeopathic medicine." In a statement, a Columbia spokesman says, "Columbia is committed to the principle of academic freedom and to upholding faculty members' freedom of expression for statements they make in public discussion," reports the Washington Post. A recent study found that about half of what Oz says on TV is wrong, which Matt Novak at Gizmodo says proves that calling the doctor "full of s---" isn't just opinion—"it's science!" (More "down with Oz" news here, here, and here.)

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