| And when I say "shiny" I mean "shiny".
Dr Gupta is by all means qualified as a journalist and a neurosurgeon to be a surgeon general, but what does it really mean to be surgeon general? From the website of the Office of the Surgeon General:
The Office of the Surgeon General, under the direction of the Surgeon General, oversees the operations of the 6,000-member Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and provides support for the Surgeon General in the accomplishment of his other duties. The Office is part of the Office of Public Health and Science in the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Surgeon General serves as America's chief health educator by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.
So, yes, qualified he is, Dr Sanjay Gupta. He does a lot of just that -- he's a journalist who does a lot of work on health information. But it's still a curious thing -- why Dr Gupta was chosen over other possible choices. Is it because he's one of the most recognizable doctors in America? I'd like to think Obama's not just trying to put together a celebrity cast. Is it because he's a health journalist and so has an innate ability of communicating important health news to the public? Is he really more qualified than other candidates for this post? Or is he even really qualified for what this job entails?
Back in March 2007, more than 1,000 physicians and medical students, including myself, saw Dr Sanjay Gupta speak as keynote speaker at our joint National Physicians Alliance and American Medical Student Association conferences. He gave quite a "shiny" presentation, with super fancy powerpoints and moving screens and lots of glitter, and his stories of health reporting and the war in Iraq were quite moving. At his young age of 37, he wowed us with our accomplishments (though I was hoping we wouldn't leave such inspiring conferences with a superhero mentality -- that only a few people can do the good work. I'm obviously a big fan of the concept that we're all heroes or have the potential to be -- just maybe not the shiniest, which I'm ok with).
However, a short time later, I saw Dr Gupta on television, and this is where my hesitation comes up about Dr Gupta as surgeon general. Gupta has very clear biases and conflicts of interest, as a top reporter for CNN. This is what makes his choice questionable, in my mind.
Right before Michael Moore was slated to be interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer, about "Sicko", CNN ran a segment called "Reality Check" by Dr Gupta, on the myths and biases of the movie. It was truly disgraceful, in that this "reality check" was not well fact-checked and full of mistruths (some of which Gupta later apologized for). The following day, Michael Moore was interviewed by Blitzer, and he argued against all the "facts" that Gupta presented (both segments presented below):
That night Michael Moore also put his Truth Squad to work, publishing some refutations of Gupta's arguments.
Later, Dr Gupta discussed Michael Moore's arguments (and sounding so very well like a politician):
Michael Moore and Dr Sanjay Gupta later faced off on Larry King Live. Part 1 of the discussion:
And Part 2:
Back to the discussion of surgeon general. Clear conflicts of interest prevailed in Gupta's discussion of the health care system. As a journalist, I'm sure he would have fact-checked better -- if not nudged by CNN's advertisers interests. I'd like our top doc in the White House to be conflict-of-interest free, in the name of restoring integrity to our public health system.
On the optimistic side, I'm sure my hesitation about Dr Gupta could be assuaged. And there's wonderful potential for many positive developments and forward-thinking actions -- based on Dr Gupta's immense skills and the Obama administration's interests. So don't call me a curmudgeon (yet). I'm just sharing some history that I think deserves discussion given the circumstances (and thanks to the collective history and power of YouTube videos).
(of note, Gupta is taking a few days to decide, but it is anticipated that he will accept the offer to be the next surgeon general) |
