Is Dr. Oz Doing More Harm Than Good?
Are you a Dr. Oz fan? Why wouldn’t you be? The charismatic heart surgeon/health guru, dubbed “America’s doctor” by Oprah herself, makes a monumental living telling us all how to eat better, have sex better, and indulge in raspberry ketones and green coffee beans.
In the current edition of the New Yorker, though, writer Michael Specter asks whether Oz’s success has led him over the line from physician to charlatan. It’s a fascinating profile, and the opening paragraphs—in which a TV film crew demands a take two of an emotionally laden moment between the doc and a patient—are harrowing.
Among the other highlights: Oz’s mentor, heart surgeon Eric Rose, says he wouldn’t send a patient to his protégé today: “In many respects, Mezmet is now an entertainer.” The portrait drawn of Oz’s wife/producer Lisa, a Bryn Mawr College grad who refuses to have their four children vaccinated for flu and convinced her husband to allow a Reiki practitioner into the surgical theater. And Oz opining on his favorite maladies: cancer “is our Angelina Jolie. We could sell that show every day.”
Read the piece here, and tell us what you think. How much do you trust Dr. Oz?
Photo: lev radin / Shutterstock.com
