Real Doctors Against Oz: Letter From 151 PA Doctors

John Fetterman
4 min readOct 5, 2022

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Dear Citizens of Pennsylvania,

We the undersigned doctors write with serious concern regarding the candidacy of Dr. Mehmet Oz for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat. As physicians, we strongly believe in evidence-based medicine and sharing honest health information with the public.

As a former daytime TV host, Dr. Oz exploited the hopes and fears of his viewers by promoting unproven, ill-advised, and at times potentially dangerous treatments. He has made clear that he will put enriching himself above all else, even in instances where people’s health is endangered.

Dr. Oz’s record of spreading misinformation and sharing factually incorrect medical advice on The Dr. Oz Show and otherwise is thoroughly researched and well documented.

One 2014 study by the British Medical Journal found that half of the claims made on The Dr. Oz Show were not based in fact and researchers at Georgetown University found that more than 75% of recommendations made on Dr. Oz’s show “did not align with evidence-based medical guidelines.” When called before Congress to answer for this misinformation, even Dr. Oz himself had to admit that “oftentimes [the products I promote] don’t have the scientific muster to pass as fact.”

Dr. Oz would also be another vote to criminalize abortion and he has refused to condemn efforts to ban abortion in Pennsylvania, endangering the lives of women and people who can become pregnant. He has even said that he opposes abortions in cases of rape or incest.

Dr. Oz also disseminated dangerous misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He promoted and defended unproven and possibly dangerous COVID-19 treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin when there wasn’t clear scientific consensus. He also said that COVID-19 vaccines weren’t “true vaccines” like “classic childhood vaccines.” This is all deeply concerning.

In 2015, ten physicians, including surgeons and professors, penned a letter to ​​Columbia’s Dean of Medicine saying they were “surprised and dismayed” that Dr. Oz was a faculty member at the university. The same year, eight Columbia faculty members published an op-ed in USA Today calling out Dr. Oz for “misleading the public” and forcing physicians like themselves to spend “a significant amount of our clinical time debunking Ozisms.” This year, Columbia University decided to cut ties with the former TV host.

As a TV celebrity doctor, Mehmet Oz has displayed a shameful disregard for medical science and the wellbeing of his audience while he enriched himself at the expense of our patients. As physicians we take seriously our responsibility for the health and wellbeing of our patients.

John Fetterman believes that healthcare is a fundamental human right, supports expanding access to affordable health care, protecting people with preexisting conditions, and would vote to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. Protecting the health and wellbeing of our citizens requires that we elect John Fetterman to the US Senate this November.

Sincerely,

Physicians of Pennsylvania

Select last names have been omitted to protect physician privacy.

  1. Dr. Benjamin Abella
  2. Dr. Philip Hirshman
  3. Dr. Ezekiel Tayler
  4. Dr. Valerie Arkoosh
  5. Dr. Sohni Dean
  6. Dr. Lisa W
  7. Dr. Belinda B
  8. Dr. Dan Vogl
  9. Dr. Catherine Burdett
  10. Dr. Ben Cocchiaro
  11. Dr. Katherine H. Herz
  12. Dr. Radhika P
  13. Dr. Michael Abboud
  14. Dr. Sara P
  15. Dr. Anupriya G
  16. Sarah Horvath
  17. Sarah L
  18. Danielle S
  19. LeeAnn T
  20. Lynne Coslett-Charlton
  21. Thomas Dardarian
  22. Jackie C
  23. Elizabeth Wolo
  24. Lawremce Kaplan
  25. Kathryn Z
  26. Mark Lopatin
  27. Ann Steiner
  28. Sarah Kawasaki
  29. Sally Pullman-Mooar
  30. Erika B
  31. Noah R
  32. Rabia Choudry
  33. Lisa Rosen
  34. Margaret Gilfillan
  35. Paula Edelson
  36. Amy Behrman
  37. Kristina Nicholson
  38. Abike James
  39. Melina M
  40. Kathleen Ackert
  41. Michal Elovitz
  42. Holly C
  43. Danielle Johnson
  44. Anne K
  45. Anja L
  46. Sherry B
  47. Alison Swigart
  48. Laura Czulada
  49. Amy L
  50. Cathy N
  51. Maura Dunfey
  52. Sugandha Landy
  53. Jeff L
  54. Jessica Z
  55. Jay G
  56. Courtney Schreiber
  57. Nadia Dowshen
  58. Deborah Owen
  59. Nadja Peter
  60. Shelby D
  61. Peter Vasquez
  62. Christina Master
  63. Roberta Laguerre
  64. Fran Balamuth
  65. Matthew Magda
  66. Esther N
  67. Jen Keim
  68. David C
  69. Karen Feisullin
  70. Garrett Keim
  71. Adam Lake
  72. Kaitlin B
  73. Jessica M
  74. Alhambra Frarey
  75. Rachel Nash
  76. Nisha G
  77. Sarah G
  78. Kathryn K
  79. Michelle Horn
  80. Lisa Perriera
  81. Sarah W
  82. Holli Warholic
  83. Sandra Birnbaum
  84. Robert Marron
  85. Heather Mascio
  86. Elizabeth D
  87. Moira Z
  88. Adam B
  89. Corey Herman
  90. Linsey O
  91. Laurie G
  92. Kristen D
  93. Brian Work
  94. Shivani P
  95. Julie Yeh
  96. Sheila Quinn
  97. Andrea Fox
  98. John Butler
  99. Donna Farrell, DO
  100. Alan Reinach
  101. Peter S
  102. Shannon T
  103. Ann Honebrink
  104. Kim R
  105. Meg Kawan
  106. Sunita Nasta
  107. Jenny Wang
  108. Kerry Krauss
  109. Danielle Levine
  110. Kevin L
  111. Sharon D
  112. Steven S
  113. Charles W
  114. Megan Madsen
  115. Lisa Wray
  116. Jack Guida
  117. Naomi Lauriello
  118. Ezekiel Tayler
  119. MaryAnne Peifer
  120. Sarah D
  121. Judith Kastenberg
  122. Elizabeth L
  123. Julia R
  124. Jennifer K
  125. Jessica K
  126. Sudeshna Chatterjee-Paer
  127. Denese B
  128. Alison Swigart
  129. Thomas Dardarian
  130. Lisa Naujoks
  131. Jessica C
  132. Joan Z
  133. Catherine B
  134. Xiaomang Stickles
  135. Robyn Faye
  136. Sara Pentlicky
  137. Donna D
  138. Sherry Blumenthal
  139. Rachel S
  140. David O. Holtz
  141. William Wieczorek
  142. Angela C
  143. Mackenzie Cummings
  144. Sage Mikami
  145. O. Abar
  146. Swati S
  147. Kwandaa Roberts
  148. Kavita Vinekar
  149. Jessica Pescatore
  150. Alyssa Kurtz
  151. Sarah G

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John Fetterman

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. Candidate, United States Senate 2022. Running to be that 51st Vote. 🇺🇸