physician Heal Thyself…
I have in my mind the picture of Charlie Brown trying to kick that football. Etched in cartoon lore, is the knowledge that Lucy Van Pelt can’t be trusted. She will pull the ball away and Charlie will be fooled again, and again. The Peanuts lesson is more than a comic moment enshrined in history— it is an allegory of our times. You know, “fool us once and shame on us...”
Take Mehmet Oz and his history as a TV huckster who promoted fancy elixirs to fans who mostly were looking to lose weight and revel in magical salves and potions. Oz, for his part, sold them out to sponsors he was shilling for. Call him a small “d” doctor whose audience/patients are best diagnosed as snookered “customers:”
But during the show’s run from 2009 to 2021, Oz provided a platform for potentially dangerous products and fringe viewpoints, aimed at millions of viewers, according to medical experts, public health organizations and federal health guidance. Among the treatments that Oz promoted were HCG, garcinia cambogia — an herbal weight-loss product the FDA has said can cause liver damage — and selenium — a trace mineral needed for normal body functioning — for cancer prevention.
This “Theodoric of Jersey, medieval quack” thrived in the footlights. Friends of his show included Oprah, Michelle Obama, and Corey Booker, but his celebrity appeal dimmed as Oz shed his white coat for fame and fortune. Oz’s assets total between $100 — $400 million according to his required candidate disclosure filing last May. It is estimated that he and his wife have a net worth of $200 million and own homes and property both in the U.S. and Turkey.
Oz was a reputable surgeon before his venture into television and now politics. His professional degrees are from Harvard and Penn and was on the faculty at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is not a fake as much as a fallen healer turned snake-oil salesman…and that is the rub. While his ventures into pseudo-science are troublesome, his latest venture into pseudo-politics may be worse. Here’s why. As a TV spokesperson for health tips and diet remedies Oz’s role as an “influencer” was open to public scrutiny—and, to be fair, not all his recommendations were unhelpful or harmful. When Oz made a controversial pitch on screen, critics were watching and could hold him to task:
“What’s really sad about the situation is how he used all that prestige and authority to then lead people down a path of nonsense. It undermines all of us, all of us trying to be credible physicians, doing the right thing.”
Pseudo-Politics
In his new role, however, it is obvious that the doctor who served as an influencer for years as a spokesperson has suddenly become the one who is slavishly tied to a false political narrative with an unhealthy allegiance to a corrupt leader. Why else would he need the Trump endorsement? Is there another more positive spin we should take from the doctor’s hostage-like response to the question of whom he would support for president in 2024:
“I’ll support whoever the Republican Party puts up, and I have reached out across the aisle on my campaign because I want to bring balance to Washington.”
Pressed on why the Republican (Senate) candidate wouldn’t commit to supporting Trump, Oz said he would, adding, “I would support Donald Trump if he decided to run for president, but this is bigger than one candidate. This is a much bigger story about how we are going to build a bigger tent so that more Americans feel safe.”
— Pennsylvania Senate Debate, October 25
Well, not really. The debate moderator was asking a salient question given Oz’s even less truthful answer to a subsequent question. When asked whether he had concerns about the former president’s legal problems, Oz balked stating that his busy schedule precluded his following the biggest story of the past two centuries and having an opinion on an insurrection that played out on our TV screens for hours on January 6. Oz was caught in the lie that tars all Republicans who deny the truth. No one could possibly avert the turmoil surrounding the former guy, He is embroiled in more than 30 lawsuits stemming from his corrupt presidency and personal and business failures. For Oz to suggest that he had no concerns about supporting a man who may soon be charged with sedition and obstruction should be far more concerning to voters than the state of his opponent’s health. Fetterman is under a real doctor’s care and has stood before Pennsylvania voters warts and all. He bravely and transparently chose not to avoid a debate that he clearly would struggle to perform in.
Prognoses
And that is the difference between Mehmet Oz and John Fetterman. One is physically challenged with a health condition he will overcome, the other is morally and ethically challenged with a chronic character flaw he has exhibited most of his professional life. Fetterman may give voters pause to consider his health and the course of his recovery, but voters know where he stands on the most important issues in this election. They also know that with time and therapy one can regain health. Dr. Oz’s ailment is far less treatable. He may never recover from his history of quackery and willingness to sell out to the highest bidder. The voters are considering his bid to cure their political ills. A question not asked at last night’s debate begs the question, “Can you trust this doctor?”
Dr. Oz who wants to be Senator, when asked about his view on reproductive rights and who should be involved in a woman’s choice regarding her body, shared this:
"I want women, doctors, local political leaders letting the democracy that always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so that states can decide for themselves,"
— Mehmet Oz, October 25
Oz has invited local politicians into his operating room to help make one of the most difficult and fateful decisions a family confronts. His exact words sound even more hypocritical given his profession— since no surgeon would ever consider inviting a political arbiter to one of his or her medical consults with a patient.
Pennsylvanians should place more trust in Fetterman’s medical team than the doctor from Jersey whose phony bromides cannot even heal the cancer he hides inside. It is an incurable affliction that burdens healers who would betray their patient’s health for an Emmy, or who would tarnish their good name for political gain.