Jenny McCarthy (I’d put a smiley after that, except I don’t consider what she’s responsible for funny in any way).
I dunno about ‘quack’ but I saw a segment where he basically said that you should have infant boys circumcised because it prevents all sorts of diseases, problems with the foreskin and is medically necessary. Where I’m living, the insurer (Alberta Health) has now deinsured the procedure and indicates that it’s ‘not medically necessary.’
I found his statements absurd.
Further, he tends be obsessed with bacteria everywhere. I remember one segment where he suggested that women should wash their makeup brushes every day. Good grief - a good make up brush is $100 - if you washed it daily it would be bald in about 6 months instead of lasting 20 years like they’re supposed do. Unless a woman has an active skin infection (in which case she probably shouldn’t be wearing make up) or has very bad acne (ditto) or shares her brushes with random people (ew) washing them every 3 months or so is perfectly fine. Good grief - there’s more bacteria growing in your cosmetics daily than would grow on the frikin’ brush - talk about over kill.
I think psychobunny means “medical patient” as in internal medicine (which encompasses many things including primary and preventative care), as opposed to surgery.
Yes. That’s one of the problems I have with him, and I agree completely with psychobunny. I understand he is an excellent surgeon, but his field is highly specialized, and I don’t know if he should be giving out the kind of general medical advice that he does, given that internal medicine is not his area of expertise. And I am very very wary of anyone who would endorse alternative therapies such as Reiki. Very wary. I admire Oprah for many things, but I think it’s shameful the way she promotes junk science and quack medicine on her show.
He pinged my quack-o-meter when he sat next to Jenny McCarthy on one of Oprah’s shows while she went off about vaccinations and how they cause autism, and HE DIDN’T SAY A DAMNED THING.
But then this happened:
Now my quack-o-meter is broken.
This is a great example of how he has embraced the formula of Oprah-ish infotainment. From the stuff I’m forced to endure at the gym, it seems that there are two main things the daytime talk shows peddle: gossip and fear (OK, three things - makeovers). I don’t know if the housewife demographic is actually drawn to fearmongering, or if you just need to flog the terror to make them (us) buy the Clorox products and such that pay your bills, but it’s ridiculous. I’m a pretty over-the-top germophobe, and even I think their scare segments on these things are ridiculous.
I don’t think he is a quack per se, but all those freakin fear-mongering “doctor” shows are really getting on my nerves. My wife is home on maternity leave, so everyday I get a lecture on how my favorite foods that are bad for me, or how I’m brushing my teeth wrong, or why I should drink green tea, etc…
I’m at or near saturation with fear-mongering about food and vitamins and stuff - I’m going to eat what I want when I want in moderation, and call it good.
Anyone worth their salt working in the health care profession can see that he is an absolute phony! His ideas regarding immunization schedules and diets are best left to experts such as public health nurses and registered dieticians. He makes me cringe with his so-called advice. Its almost criminal because people have a hard enough time trying to sort legitimate health information from crap without his crazy rantings. ->RN and Public Health Nurse
My vote is for quack. There is a really interesting segment on the skeptics guide to the universe podcast where Dr. Novella (he’s the skeptic in the video in the OP) discusses his appearance on the Dr. Oz show. I’m actually surprised nobody else mentioned it yet. I figured the dope would be crawling with SGU fans.
I was thinking about this thread after hearing about Dr. Oz declaring apple juice contains dangerous levels of arsenic. I like the FDA’s response to him:
Isn’t there enough actual news and problems in the health world that he doesn’t have to make shit up?
So basically, the verdict is that he’s fine of you need someone to do surgery on your heart, but you should keep him away from your BRAAAAINS!!!
More like this: if you need cardiothoracic surgery, stick with someone who spends most of his or her time actually working full time in that area.
Which means that he is spending most of his time advocating areas of medicine or science in which he has neither training nor certification. And he does so posing as an expert, with his basic MD, with no actual credentials in
nutrition or preventive medicine. Even though he’s perfectly capable of earning them.
I don’t know how anyone can be anything but a quack who embraces the likes of Dr. Joseph Mercola. :rolleyes:
And that is why I would call him a quack, even though he’s a real doctor.
Actually, I was just about to mention it. Curses and drat!
Anyway, undoubtedly a quack. By all accounts he’s a very good surgeon, but so what? There’s no shortage of experts out there who step way outside of their fields and forget that expertise in one area is not expertise in all areas. I’ll trust him when he speaks about (say) fixing an aorta, but when he talks about so-called alternative medicine he quacks loudly enough that it hurts my ears.
The phrase you are looking for my dear is “media whore.” 
I am friends with a physician colleague of his - he has the reputation of being an excellent surgeon and clincian. But his actions - and write ups I read in The New Yorker and other sources - make it pretty clear that he will do anything to get in front of a camera.
Oh God yes. Sometimes I wonder how much “societal damage” Oprah’s caused over her career.
IMO Dr. Oz has fallen to what lots of smart, successful people do, particularly when they get famous. Because they are pretty smart/talented/successful they often get this idea that this applies to anything they do/try/think about. Which, if you think about it is pretty damn stupid, because it usually take a person years of hard work/education/training/blood sweat and tears to become “great” at just their special “thing”. And then, all of a sudden, they believe they have the answer to some other complex problem that they have maybe done a few evenings reading and thinking about.
I started reading this thread in order to mention that! SGU is a really great podcast.
I don’t think he is a quack. I just think that there isn’t sufficient material to make an interesting daily show. With boredom comes craziness. Look at all the 24/7 news stations. Without something catastrophic to cover, such as a tsunami, there just aren’t enough interesting stories to fill up that much air time. Enter the craziness. Next thing you know 15 programming hours per week is dedicated to the Tot Mom murder trial.
Dr. Oz would probably put on a great show if it was made into a bi-weekly or monthly program.