Mehmet Oz, MD, Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, is facing backlash — particularly from a Pennsylvania physician group — after he said his opponent, John Fetterman (D), probably wouldn’t have a stroke earlier this year if he had “ever eaten a vegetable in his life.”
The celebrity doctor, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, made the comment after an old campaign video showing him buying ingredients for a vegetable was mocked on Twitter. Fetterman’s campaign got in on the joke, tweets that “in PA, we call this a veggie tray.”
“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a stroke and wouldn’t be in a position to lie about it over and over again,” said Rachel Tripp, senior counsel. of Oz for communication. business The insider in response to Fetterman’s tweet.
Fetterman, who currently serves as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, suffered a stroke in May that kept him out of the campaign until earlier this month. During his recovery, Fetterman’s campaign revealed he had serious heart problems including cardiomyopathy, according to a report from Washington Post.
“I know politics can be bad, but even then, I could never imagine making fun of someone for their health challenges,” Fetterman wrote on Twitter.
A group of 100 doctors affiliated with the organization Real Doctors Against Oz condemned Oz after his comments about Fetterman, drawing attention to the ways he spread misinformation on his television show.
“As a former daytime TV host, Dr. Oz exploited the hopes and fears of his viewers by promoting unproven, ill-advised and sometimes potentially dangerous treatments,” the organization said in a statement to Business Insider. “He has made it clear that he will put enrichment above everything, even in cases where people’s health is at risk.”
Real Doctors Against Oz was launched earlier this month, with the aim of denouncing Oz’s “history of selling bogus supplements, dangerous fad diets and fake miracle cures”, as well as condemning his links to the pharmaceutical industry and support for Republican candidates who want to ban abortion in Pennsylvania. The organization has been trying to drum up support for Fetterman’s campaign.
“Oz is simply not believed by real medical professionals,” Valerie Arkoosh, MD, a member of Real Doctors Against Oz, said at a news conference in early August that was hosted by the Fetterman campaign. Arkoosh, who is also chairwoman of the Montgomery Board of Commissioners, recently ended her campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“No real doctor — or any decent human being, to be honest — would ever make fun of a stroke victim recovering from that stroke the way Dr. Oz is making fun of John Fetterman,” Arkoosh said. . “It is defamed.”
In their latest statement, Real Doctors Against Oz highlighted years of dubious medical claims pushed by Oz, citing a Health News Review analysis that found that approximately 78% of the claims he made on his TV show were not supported by evidence-based medical guidelines.
Oz had previously testified before Congress during a hearing on false advertising in the diet and weight loss industry about statements he made on “The Dr. Oz Show” promoting green coffee bean extract as a “pill miracle” for weight loss. He also spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming hydroxychlorine as a cure for the disease, despite evidence showing it had no benefit.
Columbia University, which previously employed Oz as part of its medical faculty, severed ties with the famous doctor in April of this year.
