Dr. Oz Used To Be A Good Doctor. What Happened To Him?

If John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Senate, hadn’t had a stroke earlier this year, the discourse about him and his opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, would surely be different. Most of the op-eds after last Wednesday’s hourlong debate focused on whether Fetterman did a good job; his stroke has left him with some speech and communication impairments, while Oz is far more camera-ready.

But the discussion around Fetterman’s recovery threatened to upstage the fact that Oz said a number of alarming things: When asked whether abortion should be banned, he said, “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.” It’s a position at odds with many of his fellow doctors: Both the American Medical Association and Physicians for Reproductive Health believe abortion should be legal nationwide.

Oz was equally adept at deflecting any of the moderators’ questions that didn’t suit him. When they asked about the claims that he hawked products that didn’t work on The Dr. Oz Show, his long-running daytime TV program that ended earlier this year, he replied: “The show did very well because it provided high-quality information,” he said. “John Fetterman’s approach to help is a dangerous one. He wants to socialize medicine. … When you socialize medicine, you shut down access to health care.”

“I told people the truth,” he said about his show. “I’ll do the same as a senator.” (He also claimed to not have been paying any attention to Donald Trump’s recent and very noisy legal troubles with the DOJ, while also saying he’ll support Trump in a 2024 run.)