Why Did Al Roker and Matt Lauer Undergo a Dangerous Prostate Exam on Live TV?

In November, the men of the Today show stopped shaving to raise awareness for men’s health, specifically testicular and prostate cancer. November is a key ratings month in television and the Beards for Better Balls stunt was attention-getting for a good cause.

But when a couple of the Today men decided to get their prostates checked live on the show. Well, pardon the pun, but they scraped bottom. It was inaccurate, unethical and dangerous. All of which I found out from my doctor when I went in for a physical the other day. He wanted to talk more about Matt Lauer and Al Roker’s prostates than mine.

“I watched it live,” my doctor told me, “and couldn’t believe they were pushing the PSA test.”

The test is no longer recommended or even considered safe by most in the medical world, but you wouldn’t have known that from the Today show-and-tell.

Lauer used Dr. David Samadi, his own urologist, for the report. Roker asked, “Are there any downsides to this? Any complications to the screening?” Samadi, who must have known better, answered, “There are no complications. “

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In May of 2012, all of the news networks, including NBC, reported that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released findings that the risks of the PSA screening outweigh the benefit and recommended it not be used anymore. The study found that there is no real evidence that this test accurately detects cancer. However, there is evidence that this test, coupled with the anxiety it produces in patients, and unneeded biopsies and radiation treatments, causes more deaths than the test prevents.

That’s a pretty big “downside,” don’t ya think?

After the study, The American Urological Association and The American Cancer Society stopped recommending routine PSA testing for the vast majority of men. How did Lauer and his urologist not know that? Or did they just choose to ignore it? Doctor Samadi runs a robotic surgery center that specializes in prostate surgery. The U.S. Preventative Task Force found that the PSA test led to too many unnecessary surgeries.

The real disservice in the report may have been committed by NBC News chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman, who was present the entire time, but never once spoke up to provide balance or objectivity to a live report that quickly became an infomercial for a questionable medical practice. It seems she didn’t want to correct the personal attendant to Lauer’s derriere. Samadi might poke and prod it, but most at NBC just kiss it.

It has been a bad month for network news and especially NBC. Lara Logan was suspended at CBS for her Benghazi report on 60 Minutes. Martin Bashir resigned from MSNBC after suggesting that someone should defecate in Sarah Palin’s mouth. And Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC show was cancelled after he claimed a New York Post photographer enjoys putting something else in his mouth during a homophobic rant.

I would argue that what Lauer did is worse than all of the above. After the Beghazi debacle, a CBS internal investigation found that Lara Logan and her producers could have discovered that the report was flawed If they had only done their due diligence. Due diligence, in this case, means Logan and her producers would need access to confidential FBI transcripts. All Lauer and his producers needed was access to Google. Instead they allowed flawed information to be disseminated so Lauer’s urologist didn’t look bad.

It is time for NBC to put on a rubber glove for its own internal investigation into how and why bad medical information was allowed to go out over their airways unchallenged.

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