Title: “Dr. Mehmet Oz and Conflicts of Interest in Medicare Finances”
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor, came under fire again on Tuesday for his financial ties to the pharmaceutical and health care industries, this time in connection with millions of dollars received by nonprofits associated with Columbia University.
The University of Pennsylvania reported a $500,000 investment from Dr. Oz. The investment came from Dr. Oz’s wife’s father, an investment banker who was a senior executive in the international unit of Goldman Sachs. Dr. Oz’s wife works as an intern at Goldman for Pfizer.
Dr. Oz’s nonprofit, HealthCorps, received a $1.5 million loan in 2001 after Dr. Oz’s father sold his pharmaceutical stock last year through a family company, Cordis Health Care Holdings. These funds were used to help launch the organization.
The article also cited a letter sent Tuesday by Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and three of his colleagues to several critics of Dr. Oz’s financial disclosures, including a New York City-based watchdog group.
The letter asked for the names of donors to a Columbia university-backed nonprofit run by Dr. Oz called Reach Out America, as well as the university’s records relating to Columbia on the View — much of it investigated by Charles E. King, the university’s vice president for government, community and public service.
The four doctors, whose invitation to address Congress set off a cascade of attacks on Dr. Oz’s parent’s wealth, have no financial ties to any drug or health care company, one of them, Dr. Christiane Northrup, a family medicine specialist in Yarmouth, Maine, said.
On Tuesday, Dr. Oz appeared on Capitol Hill, where a committee of senators is brainstorming possible solutions to a complex problem: How do you get Americans to eat more healthily?
Dr. Oz was unable to attend the session, having been subpoenaed for an appearance in Senate hearings into his frequent talk show appearances in support of dietary supplements like apple cider vinegar, green coffee bean extract and Mercola’s Aerobics (an exercise program that thousands of people bought on Amazon). Some of these supplements have been linked to serious safety issues.
The hearing concerned a proposed change to Medicare rules that might limit access to certain types of medicine prescribed by in-house pharmacies and other specialized providers, and therefore, make it harder for seniors to get those treatments for free.
Dr. Oz’s appearance at the hearing brought out sharp reactions. “I am not a senator. I am a human being. I am here to speak to you today because I have met you before in other hearings,” he said before taking his seat.
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, asked the four doctors to testify next year in response to the Dietary Supplement Safety and Reform Act of 2014, a bill they support but which has not been brought to a vote in the Senate. Dr. Wyden, who now chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said he wanted “four leading voices” for an “open discussion” on supplement safety and reform.
At Tuesday’s Senate Health Care Committee hearing, Dr. Wyden said he was concerned that kolkhoz-style work arrangements might humanize dietary supplements, equating them to conventional supplements that do carry safety warnings. For years, the safety of these dietary supplements has been called into question.
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