Gupta turns down surgeon general post

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Some of you may remember that I opposed CNN celebrity-doctor Sanjay Gupta's never-announced nomination for surgeon general from the very start. Let's just say, I'm not a fan. Here's what I said back in January:

[Gupta] seems to be very much a part of, as well as a defender of, the status quo, namely, the corporatized health care system controlled by Big Pharma and the HMOs.

And here's what I added a couple of days later:

The problem is that Big Pharma and the HMOs control health care in the U.S. -- and many doctors just buy into the marketing machine. Gupta may not be your basic GP -- he is surely more aware of the big picture than most -- but what he is instead is a significant contributor to the problem, a telegenic broadcaster with the credibility that comes from being on television. It would be one thing if he simply reported on the pharmaceutical industry and its products from a perspective of balanced detachment. But he doesn't. He actively tries to sell those products, and, in so doing -- and without being open about his connections to Big Pharma -- he's part of the marketing machine at the core of the problem.

And then the following day:

I do not oppose Gupta because he lacks experience -- indeed, what is needed in the position is not so much bureaucratic competence as the ability to lead public relations efforts on public health issues, and, in this sense, Gupta, with his extensive experience in broadcasting, could do well -- but rather because of his flacking for the pharmaceutical industry, that is, because he is part of the problem, a celebrity cog in the marketing machine for Big Pharma and the very system that so badly needs to be overhauled or, preferably, replaced.

Well, it looks like Gupta will continue being a cog in the machine, a flack for Big Pharma. According to The Washington Post, he has announced that he will not be accepting Obama's offer. He didn't issue a statement explaining why, but:

[O]ne source close to him said he was very disheartened by Daschle's fate and fearful he was not going to get a prominent role in the health reform process. Gupta has built a lucrative media empire that includes appearances on CBS as well as CNN and book deals. He had expressed concern to friends about the financial impact on his wife and children.

Uh-huh: "a lucrative media empire." It's not just the "appearances" and "book deals," though, it's Big Pharma payola.

As surgeon general, after all, he wouldn't have been able to push drugs through supposedly neutral, professional reporting, profiting off the credibility that comes with being a supposedly trusted, and trustworthy, TV celebrity, presenting himself as an unbiased medical man while neglecting to disclose his pharma-friendly financial interests.

In a way, it's worse that he won't be surgeon general. He'll continue to avoid accountability, and people will buy what he's selling, as they do now, just because he is who he is, because Gupta said so.

Just remember how lucrative his career has become. And then follow the money.