SERMO, a social network for doctors, polled 2,020 physicians who reportedly index closely to the demographics of American physicians in general, according to the American Medical Association. Looks like Dr. Oz still doesn’t have a huge fan base within the industry.
The majority of those surveyed, 81 percent, think Oz should either resign from his position at Columbia or have his license revoked. It appears that this isn’t a result of the letter sent to the dean, which pretty clearly had some questionable industry correlations that squashed its credibility.
This seems to be purely about what he discusses on his show. And his recent special segment addressing the allegations and criticism hasn’t convinced others in healthcare that he’s legit.
SERMO’s results showed:
- 57 percent called for Dr. Oz to resign from his position at Columbia
- 21 percent think Dr. Oz should both resign from his position at Columbia and have his license revoked
- 19 percent say they respect Dr. Oz as a physician
- 3 percent think Dr. Oz should simply have his medical license revoked
The question of whether or not Oz is actually benefiting the nation’s health yielded some opinionated responses, one of which was from a fellow cardiothoracic surgeon who previously worked with the talk show host.
“I have watched Dr Oz operate and he is a good surgeon. He truly cares about patients, and I have performed well-done medical research with him. As a heart and lung surgeon, I respect him. However, when I watch his show, I cringe when he talks about a pill containing some combination of herbs, roots, and chemicals that solves any problem…or when he talks about the female orgasm!
Does he know what those pills do, what the long-term side effects are? No good studies have been done on half of those pills, and the other half have questionable or no benefit. He is using his good and well-deserved surgical reputation to mute any criticism. It is truly sad. Shame on Columbia for supporting this bad behavior.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
As far as Oz’s financial gains since the start of his own show, one surveyed doctor said:
“When I see Dr Oz discuss nutrition-related topics, I am saddened by his turn to the dark side. When he was a guest on Oprah, he discussed topics relevant to his training in cardiovascular surgery and he did a good job. Now, he’s an “expert” on everything…especially selling products and making money.”
Some believe that Oz’s soapbox is disrespectful to practicing physicians who deal with making tough decisions and standing behind the choices they make each day.
“The rest of us have to fight for a living doing prior authorizations and constantly explaining our decision-making for our patients. What [Dr. Oz] says is medical gospel and not questioned….like a TV Vatican Pope.”
But, again, the opinions in the poll seem to be largely a result of how Oz generally represents himself and healthcare on his show, not the letter sent by questionable authors with their own financial agendas.
“The letter…is actually quite chilling because it seems like a clumsy attempt to get us squawking amongst ourselves. Who are the sell-outs who signed that letter? What was their agenda since they don’t even work at Columbia? I found their connections to Big Tobacco and Monsanto very unsavory.”
And as far as the whole GMO situation involved with the “scandal,” some physicians do agree with Oz that our food should be clearly labeled.
“Don’t we have a right to know what we are eating? Didn’t Hippocrates say ‘let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food?'”
Because Columbia stood by Oz during this whole ordeal, the chances of him actually resigning or getting his license revoked seem slim. But if this ends up translating into patients not wanting to be accompanied by Oz in the OR, repercussions could start to materialize. Probably too soon to tell, but The Dr. Oz Show ratings moving forward could also indicate where Oz stands. Although, physicians are most definitely not his primary demographic.
