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Dr. Oz

Checkmite

Skepticifimisticalationist
Checkmite
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My grandmother is a slavish devotee of this guy's show. So when I come to visit her, if it's that time of the day the show IS on. On the episodes I've watched, I've seen him promote apitherapy (the use of strategically-placed bee stings to treat various ailments; not scientifically supported) and I have seen him use some kind of computer program to "calculate" peoples' "true" or "real" age, based on factors like weight, blood pressure, eating habits, and so forth - a calculation which (to this non-doctor JREFer) seems like a total flam. In the episode I saw, someone whose "bad" body and habits had previously netted a "true" age of like 75 (the guy was in his 30's) was shown after taking Oz's advice and dropping a few pounds over a short period of time; his new "true" age after this was something ridiculous, like 14.

I generally get a bad feeling about this guy, but as near as I can tell he is a licensed heart surgeon and I haven't seen him show or promote anything completely off the wall. Can anyone here validate my tingling skeptometer?

ETA: There's another show she watches that I've seen, called "The Doctors". I haven't seen anything at all suspicious on their show; it looks straight-up medical science from the couple of times I've seen it. Anything about that show that I should know, too?
 
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A few years ago he debated with Randi about the South American faith healer "John of God". Dr. Oz supported the idea that some charlaton practicing medicine without a license might somehow be doing some good because he's a nice guy.
 
Lots of Cliff notes here. He has reiki and faith healers in the OR with him apparently. :rolleyes: From what I understand, he is actually a very talented cardiac surgeon.

Este
 
Well for start, he was the previous winner of Randi's pigasus award for promoting the most crap through his show.

He, like many other woo crap, but his major boost through his appearances on Oprah. I recall once seeing a show where he performed past life regression through hypnosis.

It should also be noted that he promotes Reiki and his wife is a practioner. No hidden motives there :rolleyes:
 
I think he's very dangerous because he comes off as a charismatic, woman-friendly doctor who has all of the answers to major concerns (beauty, longevity, etc). I've watched his show, and he'll use smoke and lights as an entrance for a guest; he also goes to commercials telling you he has THE secret to prevent aging or some other crap. It's gotten worse over time.

Far too many women trust him because a significant majority of what he says is more or less legit. It's that small percentage that's harmful. He's also had Joe Mercola and Deepak Chopra on his show. While they were presenting some worthwhile products (I remember Mercola's was Krill Oil), Oz is hurting his audience by making these people seem like reliable sources for health information. Some woman may see Mercola present a seemingly healthy fish oil and then go to his website and buy into his serious woo.

Quack by association is the big thing for Oz.
 
Dr. Oz is not a critical thinker or a follower of evidence-based medicine. He promotes a lot of woo. He demonstrates poor practise with regards to medicine (on his show), and he manages to fulfill all the jokes we internists (i.e. thinkers) make about surgeons (i.e. mindless technicians). I'm embarrassed that he is a member of my profession.

Linda
 
I once summarized him like this:

Dr. Oz demonstrates that one can act as a predominantly competent doctor, while still embracing a layer or two of benign nonsense, on top of the real techniques and treatments that actually do the work.
 
Easiest explanation always remains (Ockham!): Follow the money! Oz is not just one of many who are surgeon-wealthy, he has become a seriously rich and famous man by selling the woo.
 
When he first started appearing on Oprah, he actually had sound medical advice. The segments he did showing what smoking and/or eating crap your whole life can do to your organs was fascinating. Then he went all Dr. Phil and lost all credibility with me. I think he promotes quackery to stay relevent.
 
I used to watch the Doctors. (Since you wondered about them, too.) It was generally ok, though I think they do too much of the "beauty" and "youthfulness" crap more than other more health related topics, although I guess a show about eating right and exercise all the time would be boring.

The plastic surgeon on the show (the older guy on the left) would annoy me often when people had some question or other about something, and his answer would inevitably be some form of plastic surgery. Duh, I guess, but I personally don't think doctors should recommend surgery willy-nilly, because it is still dangerous. That's my opinion, though.

The gynecologist (the woman) could be annoying because she acted like she knew the answer to everything. I stopped listening to her when she recommended circumcision for all boys.

The other two were pretty rational and interesting. I generally liked what they had to say. They listened to people, and tried to actually answer their question is a relevant, non-wooish way.

I stopped watching the show, though, when they showed someone performing chiropractic on a 10-12 year old. Every so often, they'll do woo crap like that with no explanation of the risks, or even why they do it. Excepting the exceptions, I'd say it's a pretty good show, with annoyances that may bother people depending on how strongly they feel about it.
 
BlackCat said:
I used to watch the Doctors. (Since you wondered about them, too.) It was generally ok, though I think they do too much of the "beauty" and "youthfulness" crap more than other more health related topics, although I guess a show about eating right and exercise all the time would be boring.

The plastic surgeon on the show (the older guy on the left) would annoy me often when people had some question or other about something, and his answer would inevitably be some form of plastic surgery. Duh, I guess, but I personally don't think doctors should recommend surgery willy-nilly, because it is still dangerous. That's my opinion, though.

The gynecologist (the woman) could be annoying because she acted like she knew the answer to everything. I stopped listening to her when she recommended circumcision for all boys.

The other two were pretty rational and interesting. I generally liked what they had to say. They listened to people, and tried to actually answer their question is a relevant, non-wooish way.

I stopped watching the show, though, when they showed someone performing chiropractic on a 10-12 year old. Every so often, they'll do woo crap like that with no explanation of the risks, or even why they do it. Excepting the exceptions, I'd say it's a pretty good show, with annoyances that may bother people depending on how strongly they feel about it.
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Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you said there. They seriously showed chiropractic, though? That's pretty disgusting.
 
I just watched Dr Oz promoting Noni Juice.

He claimed "as doctor he was skeptical" and was told by the promoter on the show that there was a lot of bad misinformation on Internet and it did not cure cancer etc but it was still "good for you". Ozzie agreed and continued the free advertising of the liquid at $18 a bottle complete with the website to order if from.

Earth to Ozzie. Water is also good for you and, based on the available evidence, is a lot safer. It is also close to free.

Noni_juiceWP

:mad:
 
He was just on trying to explain how dental x-rays are what causes thyroid cancer....

ETA "Dr Oz said that people who have more than 5 x-rays per year (even x-rays at your Dentist Office) have a four times greater risk of developing Thyroid Cancer."

Please to reference a peer reviewed paper.
 
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Gord_in_Toronto said:
I just watched Dr Oz promoting Noni Juice.

He claimed "as doctor he was skeptical" and was told by the promoter on the show that there was a lot of bad misinformation on Internet and it did not cure cancer etc but it was still "good for you". Ozzie agreed and continued the free advertising of the liquid at $18 a bottle complete with the website to order if from.

Earth to Ozzie. Water is also good for you and, based on the available evidence, is a lot safer. It is also close to free.

Noni_juiceWP

:mad:
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Well, it's not going to sell very well if he says, "I have no sense of critical thought and add this to my giant collection of placebos."
 
Sort of along the same lines.... I listen to NPR's "Doctor Zorba" fairly often. Zorba is in the mostly-decent category; he often tells callers to get other opinions if their "treatment" is at all out of the ordinary, and tell them what the standard treatments and drugs prescribed for same are.
However.... He's quite soft on "alternative" medicine. His idea seems to be "try it and see if it works." He will point out that there is no supporting science....
While at the same time telling folks to give it a go.
 
Too close for comfort

Over the years, NewsChannel5 has profiled numerous people who have shared stories of miraculous healing at the hands of Dr. Nemeh. His healing services have attracted thousands of people from across the country.

Dr. Nemeh has always said that he does not do the healing, God does.

Dr. Oz was intrigued when he met this fellow physician and used his vast resources to investigate whether Dr. Nemeh does in fact have healing powers.

On Tuesday’s show, you will see the results of his investigation and meet two of Dr. Nemeh’s patients who are from the Cleveland area.
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I don't expect anyone here to be a regular watcher of the Dr. Oz show; but on the off chance, did anyone catch today's show and see whether or not Dr. Oz proclaimed on national television to an audience of millions of mindless fans that Dr. Issem Nemeh is a legitimate faith healer?

This Nemeh guy has been on the news over the years repeatedly, the reports only rarely paying a one-sentence lip service to the fact that some people think he's fake. He's based locally, and evidently holds large "events" where people can come and be healed. I do not know if or how much he charges.
 
Wowbagger said:
I once summarized him like this:

Dr. Oz demonstrates that one can act as a predominantly competent doctor, while still embracing a layer or two of benign nonsense, on top of the real techniques and treatments that actually do the work, simply because there is money involved.
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I would add.
 
I stumbled into his show this morning. There were some dietary tips, nothing too outlandish, just the usual "less red meat, plenty of fruits and veggies" etc.

Except that the segment was titled "Detox your body".

Ugh.
 
I don't understand how this guy can live with himself...he's hurting people and--unless he has some type of brain disorder--he knows it.

glenn
 
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