I wrote once that not only is Oprah Winfrey not a doctor, she plays a really bad one on TV. From promoting Jenny McCarthy and the anti-vaccine movement, to allowing Suzanne Somers a bully-pulpit for her medical woo, to pushing Prudence Hall and her high-dose hormone treatments without acknowledging their potential risks, to leading the church of the Secret as a way to avoid facing the harsh realities of cancer, Oprah did more harm than good when it comes to health.
And while the publishing industry may be hanging crepe, the medical community is breathing a sigh of relief that Oprah has left the airwaves, at least for now. After all, we “conventional” docs were repeatedly relegated to a seat in the audience by Oprah, who usually presented us as naysayers and officials in the Church of Medicine to Oprah’s self-appointed Galileos of Woo, rather than the health experts we are. Of course, it was all couched in terms of female empowerment, a tactic that Oprah long ago taught marketers can be used to sell anything and everything to women.
My axe to grind against Oprah is not just professional, it’s personal. For I saw my sister, nearing the end her life, turn to the Secret, believing that if she just believed enough in herself, she would be cured. Rather than strengthen her, the Secret drained her, turning her away from the supports around her towards an ever elusive goal that never allowed her the possibility of acceptance and preparation for her departure.
I have to admit that I was surprised when my good friend Linda wrote her own Ode to Oprah Winfrey, in which she thanked the Queen of daytime talk for 25 years of wisdom, excusing Oprah’s medical gaffes as nothing more than misplaced good intentions. Well-intentioned though Oprah may have been at some point, I believe she long ago lost the connection between good intentions and their results. Â In this regard, one particular lesson Linda learned from Oprah can be applied to Oprah herself, and it is this -
When people show you who they are, believe them.
Well, as far as this doctor is concerned, Oprah long ago showed me who she was, and that is nothing more than the biggest marketing Alpha Girl the media ever created, a woman who refused to use her intelligence to look beyond the marketing messages of her so called medical experts to even try to understand the science behind the issues she was promoting, and who never once considered the potential negative impact of those marketing messages on the health of her viewers. My disappointment in her has been profund, for I really did like her immensely.
Of course, we all know that Oprah isn’t really gone. With the creation of her own network, she will, like the hydra, create ever more marketing opportunities for anyone with a product to sell, relegating to her cadre of producers the authority granted her by her worshipping public.
Happily, so far, when it comes to medical topics, OWN has done pretty well. They purchased the Discovery Channel’s documentary series “Deliver  Me“, about three Ob-Gyn docs in urban LA. And Laura Berman’s episode on herpes was spot on, with weblinks to ASHASTD.org, a great resource for health info on herpes and other STD’s. Hmm…maybe OWN’s producers haven’t drunk as much of the Oprah Woo-Aid as I think they may have.
Then again, Dr Oz is still out there…
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More on Oprah and her Medical Woo from around the Web – feel free to add links in the comments section.
- Dr Jen rejoices Oprah’s departure
- Oprah – I am Menopausal (and so can you!) – TBTAM
- A Chink in Oprah’s Armour - Paul Oestreicher
- Science Based Medicine – How Low Can Oprah Go?
- The Oprafication of Medicine – More from Science Based Medicine
- Oprah and the Power to Persuade – Dr Joh Grohol on HuffPo
- Combatting the Oprah Effect – Respectful Insolance
- Oprah’s Ugly Secret – Salon.com
- Oprah Shills for John of God – Respectful Insolance
- Potentially Harmful and other Alternative therapies – Oprah and John of God – OMG
- Jenny McCarthy & Oprah Winfrey – Respectful Insolance
- Newsweek – Why Oprah’s Health Advice can Make you sick
- Orac- Proof that Oprah is beyond redemption
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Nikki Stern
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
I find Oprah's behavior around "The Secret" very disturbing. It did not endear her to me at all.
Rated.
There are two sides to a fence, right?
WRONG. There are four sides, including the top and the bottom, and, those are sides.
Oprah tried to show all the sides of issues, by providing enough information, to get people to learn more, to do some research, and ask questions, before having certain medical procedures.
I can't help but notice that medicine has changed a lot in the last 60 years. Nowadays, there is too much emphasis on, "here, take this for the pain," as opposed to finding out what is causing the pain and doing something about that.
Comprehensive care might be the best idea. That would include an MD, a Naturopathic Doctor, an Acupuncturist, a Licensed Massage Therapist and a Chiropractor.
Such a group might have a better chance at providing wellness, rather than just one MD who might not be up to date on all the latest information and treatment alternatives.
It comes down to making choices.
Would you want to experience chemotherapy that would result in hair loss and make one so severely ill and weak, with a minimal chance of survival for more than two or three years?
Or, would you rather try alternative medicines that would not make you so ill you wished you could die on the spot, with the same survival chances?
The choice should be yours...
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There was no balance on Oprah at all - people got a forum to promote whatever they were selling without any counterpoint, such as "this information has not been tested one iota and has no greater validity or evidence support then random stuff my toddler says."
What frustrated me more than Oprah's show herself, since if there is a buck to be made, someone will make it, is that the American people are so scientifically illiterate that they ate it up without question. Without demanding evidence, or even counterpoint. With awed, beatific stares on their faces, her audience lived by the Oprah mantra like cult members following some pied piper, never questioning or using any semblance of formal logic or reason to determine if what her guests were promoting was actually real.
Americans by and large don't realize that anecdotes are not evidence, and that anything somebody is trying to sell you is subject to incredible amounts of bias. Perhaps that explains the mortgage collapse and the weight-loss pill industry. To me, knowing that we still live in a nation where the insights of the Age of Reason have dwindled among the population to barely above that of the Dark Ages is what is most frustrating.
after my daughter died i went out to dinner with another grieving parent. an old, fat, drunken barfly invited herself to our table. she began spouting 'the secret' tripe that she'd picked up on the oprah show. 'wait a minute,' i said. 'are you telling me savannah died because she wanted to?'
i got up, excused myself and left. i've never spoken to that person again.
Don’t you wonder how many comments you didn’t get due to frustration?
Oh Mybad, you are not a Psychiatrist. (just jkidding)
I was very despondent after my recent breakup. So much so that I tried several ways to kill myself. I must have had a brain fart because I called and then emailed OPRAH while in the throws of this depression. (Like Oprah is uplifting).
TWO MONTHS LATER, while taking another overdose of whatever I could find, a police officer knocked on the door of the place I was staying and said
“We got a phone call from the Oprah Winfrey show YESTERDAY saying you may be in trouble”
Uh yeah.
“I’m fine“
They left, I continued again. Don’t worry, I survived.
Oprah likes to assign herself as some great protector of the feminine mystique, but seems to have no clue what responsibility truly is.
I have not watched her show often enough. I do not know what made me think she would care.
And now, I am very curious as to whether SHE made this decision to follow up, or one of her employees/slaves to riches did.
But, truly, I am grateful to any Doctor that is willing to step out of her (or his) safe environment to confront issues that cause others harm.
Thank you for that.
Dianne
There seems to be a great hunger out there for an easy/cheap/autonomous path to good health. Combine that with an innate tendency to believe in conspiracies and you have a multi-billion dollar industry selling snake oil.
I will say that we, the medical establishment, have brought this on ourselves to some degree through the arrogance, patronizing attitudes, and greed of some.
Rodney Roe, M.D.
I'm not an M.D. (although I am a passionate science amateur) and I am never able to say "Oprah flogged junk science and snake oil to her millions of devoted fans, doing much more harm than good" without said fans turning on me and hissing, "You're not a DOCTOR! You don't know what you're talking about! Oprah has excellent intentions! She's empowering us! Taking a stand against Olde Skool medicine! She's for wimmin power!"
And so on. I'm sure you know what I am talking about.
I will be forwarding the link to this post to many, many of my Oprah-worshipping friends. Hurrah! Thanks again for posting!
Don't even get me started about the public's woeful lack of science education. My theory is that every high school in America should be required to teach a class to seniors called "Science in the Popular Press." Even if they never set foot in a science lab again in their lives (and most won't), they need to know how science WORKS. What is a variable? What is a control group? What does statistical significance mean? What is a peer-reviewed journal? What does replicability mean? What is an anecdote (this made my sister well) and what is data (this made 1000 people well in a controlled blind study)? What is a reputable source and what is not? Who paid for the study? Was there a study?
We will all be reading and hearing about science in the news for the rest of our lives, and having to make decisions based on it.
And yes, Oprah needs to sign up for my science class too.
oprah lost me when she became all preachy, and serious. i can get preachy at church, i do not want it in my home.
that said, i do wish oprah well. i am not anti oprah, but i am also not pro-oprah. i just tired of hearing about this being her final season. she was donahues successor, and he is probably proud of what she accomplished. some topics that were taboo in his day were discussed during oprah's reign.
oprah lost me when she became all preachy, and serious. i can get preachy at church, i do not want it in my home.
that said, i do wish oprah well. i am not anti oprah, but i am also not pro-oprah. i just tired of hearing about this being her final season. she was donahues successor, and he is probably proud of what she accomplished. some topics that were taboo in his day were discussed during oprah's reign.
I can attest to that and cite a few tales of medical doctors who did far worse than give bad advice. The era of blind worship of the medical profession is over.
Oprah has done far more good than most people, including doctors, who are as flawed in their thinking as she is.