(*This story was updated at 9:44 a.m. on Thursday, 10/27/22 to update a reference to Dr. Michael Aziz.)
PITTSBURGH – During Tuesday’s national U.S. Senate debate, Democratic candidate John Fetterman sparred with Republican opponent Mehmet Oz in their first and only televised matchup.
On Wednesday, the Democratic campaign went on the attack, holding a news conference in a downtown office building, casting doubt on the very medical qualifications Oz said were best suited to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
Oz ended the debate by saying, “I’m a surgeon. We take big problems and solve them.”
Standing behind a sign that read “Real Doctors v. Oz,” Dr. Michael Aziz said he was there “because Dr. Oz misused his authority and credibility as a doctor.”
The *Pittsburgh physician explained, “Real doctors could be good representatives,” citing their evidence-based education, pragmatism, and commitment to do no harm.
“Dr. Oz violated that and violated his oath,” he continued, spreading harmful medical misinformation on his decade-long television show. “That’s why I say he’s a doctor in name only.”
With his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and serving as vice chairman of surgery at Columbia University Medical School, Oz rose to fame on television, first as Oprah Winfrey’s popular talk show medical expert and later as host The Doctor Oz Show.
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On the air from 2008 until its final episode this year, Oz made millions of dollars promoting questionable and threatening products whose companies were federally investigated for bribery and multi-level marketing schemes, according to Related press.
According to him, in 2015, long before his candidacy for the Senate, 10 doctors demanded his removal from the Columbia faculty for “promoting treatments and cures of quacks in the interest of personal financial gain.” Washington Post Office.
Joining Aziz Dr. Todd Wolynn said: “This history of spreading misinformation is incredibly harmful.”
A Pittsburgh pediatrician has become celebrated for countering medical misinformation on TikTok and through his nonprofit organization Shots heard around the world after a globally coordinated social media campaign attempted to discredit his practice of spreading information about the importance of HPV vaccination.
Fetterman and Oz will face off in the first – and only debate – of the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania
Oz defended himself against attacks on his television career, telling moderators during Tuesday’s debate that “it’s a TV show like this is a TV show.”
Wolynn provided his own analysis.
“I’m not sure he would still treat working in the Senate any differently than a TV show,” he said.
The debate was the public’s first chance to see Fetterman without a script since he suffered a stroke in May, just days before winning the Democratic primary. He would sometimes string words together and seemed to have difficulty finishing answering questions.
Asked about Fetterman’s performance during the debate, Aziz said: “We are not his doctors, but the impact it had was on his auditory and textual processing, not his cognitive function. The way he thinks and understands problems is excellent.”
Aziz said Oz “exploited his special position in society to make a profit to the detriment of… viewers.”
