Columbia medical faculty: What do we do about Dr. Oz? [View all]

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Michael Rosenbaum, Joan Bregstein and 6 Columbia faculty members 4:32 p.m. EDT April 23, 2015

According to a 2012 survey in Physician Practice, 29% of physicians in private practice have other jobs, some of which involve the media. There is now a huge population of "virtual patients" whose health and purchasing behaviors are influenced by the increasingly popular group of physicians offering medical advice on the airwaves. What happens when a doctor's job in media-medicine collides with office- or hospital-based medicine? Dr. Mehmet Oz is a case in-point. A recent letter from 10 physicians to the Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons states that Dr. Oz is "guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments" and that because of this "Dr. Oz's presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable." Dr. Oz is scheduled to devote a good portion of his on-air show today to rebutting this letter.

We are members of the Columbia faculty who recognize that the Dr. Oz Show performs a public service by bringing alternative therapies which are generally under-researched and under-regulated into the public forum. However, a 2014 report in The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) reported that less than half of the recommendations on his show are based on at least somewhat believable evidence. This report raises concerns that Dr. Oz's presentations of anecdotal therapies as "miracle cures" occur in the absence of what we see as obligatory discussions of conflicts of interest, possible side-effects and evidence-based medicine (or lack thereof). Many of us are spending a significant amount of our clinical time debunking Ozisms regarding metabolism game changers. Irrespective of the underlying motives, this unsubstantiated medicine sullies the reputation of Columbia University and undermines the trust that is essential to physician-patient relationships.

more...http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/04/23/dr-oz-show-columbia-doctors-call-for-resignation-column/26179443/