Saturday, February 06, 2010

The Ozprah Effect

I don't generally watch Oprah, unless I'm sitting in some waiting area where it's literally right in front of me, being seared into my brain. I think she's a person that, all in all, wants to do the right thing & cares about people. I respect her and the good that she's done.(and even if I did watch Oprah,it's in the same time slot as The Doctors and that talk show trumps the others)

But Dr. Oz is another story.I had to watch the show, because it was about diabetes & I was curious about it. So I went to YouTube(that evening) and watched it. On the second segment, as Dr. Oz was telling all of America that they were killing themselves and the amount of insulin required had to do with how "bad" one's diabetes is, I lost it. I tweeted my honest opinion of him, and it wasn't a nice tweet.(YOU ARE STUPID) Apparently, though, I am not alone in my opinion & the re-tweets poured in, making me feel slightly better about the outrageous (for me) post. Cue in to him visiting a type 1 women in a hospital, who'd had several amputations and was waiting on another kidney transplant.He held her hand why she cried about how she wished she'd cared for herself better. If I were in such a position, no amount of tv-prestige could induce me to get on national tv and recite my problems.It's sad that she doesn't even seem to grasp what really caused her problems.(fluctuation,cumulative effects of blood sugars) Even more pathetic then that, however, is how Dr. Oz pretended to care...sensationalism at it's finest. Does a man(and I use that term very loosely) who thinks insulin is evil really give two beans a bout a critically ill, psychologically fragile diabetic? Especially if (quote) "type 1's don't produce enough insulin" and therefore, if you're eating evil sugar and taking evil insulin to cover it of course you are going to have complications. Of course he doesn't. A physician of that caliber is not a physician I'd stand to be around, much less unload my woes on national television to. I feel sorry for that women and anyone else who listens(and believes) that self-
righteous piece of over-inflated ego. Because, for some people, it really is only about the power. It's so sad to see that on national tv.

And that power has just made the lives of millions of D's worse, not better. There were so many inaccuracies in there I can't name them all, but now we get to deal with the fallout of the "Ozprah Effect." For too many people, what is said on Oprah, must be the gospel truth.(no questions asked)

3 comments:

k2 said...

GREAT POST - the show was an epic failure in diabetes education and loaded with inaccuracies !
Kelly K

Cara said...

Amen! I agree. I only caught the last 20 minutes because I was at work (and didn't think to youtube it). But what I saw was crazy in and of itself. We need to unite to try to get a talk show to do an episode on Type 1's, LADA's and Type 2's complete with endos and the diabetics themselves. We have so many eloquent people in the D-OC. It would be a well informed and spirited episode.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Isn't it frustrating how we see that such an inaccurate picture can be painted by these high profile professionals, and people automatically take it as truth.

I agree - more damage was done by that show than help.