Cross posted at slothropia.com
Physicians for a National Health Program has declared its opposition to the expected appointment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General of the U.S.
Here's why PNHP is opposed to Gupta:
Among our concerns are these:
1. He has very little background in public health, preventive medicine or administration.
2. He has openly opposed progressive health reform, going so far as to cite false information to denigrate single payer (e.g. in his error-laden attack on Michael Moore's film "Sicko") and parroting the health insurance lobby's distortions of single payer.
3. As a media figure, he has been disturbingly cozy with Big Pharma. He co-hosts Turner Private Networks' monthly show "Accent Health," which airs in doctors' offices around the country and which serves as a major conduit for targeted ads from the drug companies. Another example: In 2003, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he publicly downplayed concerns about the dangers of Vioxx. It was removed from the market a year later by its manufacturer, Merck.
4. In the 2008 election campaign, his reporting on John McCain's health proposals was misleading and implicitly positive, giving undeserved credence to McCain's claims that buying private health insurance on the open market is a financially viable option for most Americans.
We urge you to write to President-elect Obama and express your opposition to Gupta's possible nomination, and to urge Obama to nominate a more acceptable candidate for this critically important post. You can do so by clicking here: http://change.gov/....
Sincerely yours,
Quentin Young, M.D.
National Coordinator
Quentin Young is a Chicagoan, like Obama, who retired this year from a practice in Hyde Park. I wonder if he knows the new President socially.
Update:In response to the concerns of some commenters, the block quote above is in fact from an email sent to me by PNHP. There is a link to the PNHP website in the Intro above. I would provide a link to the email but I don't know how. Here is the introductory part I omitted for length:
Dear PNHP members and friends,
The report this week that President-elect Obama is considering Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, for the position of U.S. surgeon general is deeply troubling.
The email was sent to subscribers to the PNHP newsletter on PNHP "letterhead" and with their logo. It is in the form of a letter over Dr. Young's signature and as you can see his title is Coordinator of that organization. It is clear to me that he is speaking for the organization.
I apologize if I have created any confusion.