Dr. Oz Responds to Criticism From Columbia Colleagues

Just a day after defending himself on his show against a letter signed by 10 doctors calling for his dismissal from Columbia University, Dr. Oz is facing new scrutiny in an op-ed in USA Today. This time it’s from his Columbia colleagues, saying that the “unsubstantiated medicine” featured on Oz’s show “sullies the reputation of Columbia University.”

Oz told Matt Lauer on Today, “My job is to help America to understand the opportunity towards health. There are going to be times that I’m going to discuss topics where we just don’t have all the information. Other times we’re going to be extraordinarily targeted because we truly have a new breakthrough on health. Both of those are going to happen on my show.”

The letter wasn’t completely critical. It did praise Oz for his skills as a physician and said that there is “no justification for forcing him to resign from a well-earned position in academic medicine.” It also said the show does do a public service for talking about alternative medicine.

They suggested the program start with a disclaimer, “The opinions expressed on this program may not be evidence-based or part of accepted medical practice and have no endorsement from Columbia University.”

With the spotlight shining harshly on Oz, Lauer asked the doctor if he and his show will survive the scrutiny, to which Oz replied, “Without question, the show will survive it… I’m celebrating, on our show, our 1000th episode next year, I want to keep doing the show as long as I can because I think we play an important role in making America a better place.”