Discuss Latest WCI Blog Post: The Rise of Dr. Oz and How He Made So Much Stinkin’ Money

[VentAlarm]

I crossed paths with Mehmet during his early years. He was an extremely talented cardiothoracic surgeon. He liked to use alternative medicine in conjunction with his surgical skills, for pain control, etc. I always liked the guy in those earlier years, but he seems to have crossed the line with the kinds of things he promotes. It doesn't sit well with those of us who believe in science.

I worked with a CT surgeon in fellowship who had previously been was one of his trainees. Easily my least favorite person in the entire institution. Believed a lot of voodoo that hindered patient care and was an arrogant <insert descriptor of choice>. Don’t know that it’s fair to extrapolate that to him (I’m sure it’s not), but I always kind of wondered.

[fatlittlepig]

Didn’t read the article. He did a lot of good in his life as a surgeon, I believe he developed the mitraclip. I wouldn’t say I have a 100% negative view of him. I would reserve that for the Robert Malone, Mercola types.

[AR]

At this point?

Yes.

Also well before this point as you mention. I never was denying that. The two are not mutually exclusive. I was simply describing the status quo.

[AR]

Didn’t read the article. He did a lot of good in his life as a surgeon, I believe he developed the mitraclip. I wouldn’t say I have a 100% negative view of him. I would reserve that for the Robert Malone, Mercola types.

I don't know what 100% negative view means. I think most everyone has a net negative view of him. Sure, there are some positives in there. Even without the inventions he surely saved some lives. Nevertheless, on balance, my view of him is negative. And I think ~100% of people here also have a net negative view of him even if they would admit he probably did some good for some people along the way.

[fatlittlepig]

I never watched his show, I assume some of the content was the standard encourage healthy living content and some of it was promoting alternative herbals and supplements, I think whether I had a net negative opinion of him would depend on what the ratio was of that content and how it was presented.

[Tim]

Never saw his TV shows.
Never watched Oprah.
Never heard about his snake oil.
Picked up a habit of reading this blog.
I have no problem with Oprah, Dr Oz, or WCI making money.
Entertainment is a real business to make money.
Fact or fiction. Chose wisely on what you believe.

Charles Barkley is very entertaining. He got paid by Nike for a commercial: “I am not a role model”.
He is right, he is not. That’s entertainment. Just like Dr Oz.
A lot of famous and rich people aren’t really very nice. So a doctor made a boatload of money in the entertainment business and is running for Senator.
Actually, pretty tame. No actionable advice.
Next?

[Kamban]

Here is the contrarian view

I enjoyed the article. It was very well written and gave details about his cultural upbringing, lifestyle and how he rose to to the top. Far, far better than one more useless article on student loans, geographic arbitrage, crypto, FIRE, PSLF etc, etc.

And as to him being unethical, well he has done his job as a surgeon and has found his niche as a talk show host. There are equally unethical doctors who give one drug company speech after another and collect their talking fees while the drug is a me-too crap or docs who run overpriced courses on how to make money passively. He is no worse than those.

I have had people who come with dubious herbal product when they come in for consult for suspected tumors. The radio, TV and internet is full of quacks promoting it. If it is not Dr. Oz, it will be someone else. So what if he makes his money, you guys can do too if you tried hard enough. Only you will realize that it is not as easy as it looks.

I have met him in his pre-Oprah days and he was a charming nice guy. Maybe he has changed, maybe not. I don't care and don't have any jealousy or envy towards him.

Josh, please continue writing such entertaining articles. If people don't like it, they can skip it.

[JWeb]

The irony of everyone saying how they hated the article and yet it has 36 (now 37) comments here. Do you think WCI is more or less likely to do more articles like this now?

[VagabondMD]

I think Josh is an excellent writer, and I almost always read his blogs. He is definitely an asset to the WCI enterprise. While this article was not my favorite, mostly because I have a negative opinion of Dr. Oz, I did read it and learned quite a bit more about the subject. Carry on.

[AR]

Here is the contrarian view

I enjoyed the article. It was very well written and gave details about his cultural upbringing, lifestyle and how he rose to to the top. Far, far better than one more useless article on student loans, geographic arbitrage, crypto, FIRE, PSLF etc, etc.

And as to him being unethical, well he has done his job as a surgeon and has found his niche as a talk show host. There are equally unethical doctors who give one drug company speech after another and collect their talking fees while the drug is a me-too crap or docs who run overpriced courses on how to make money passively. He is no worse than those.

Oh, he is definitely worse than those. Generally the drugs have some evidence behind them which is required to go through the FDA approval process. As far as the overpriced courses on how to make money passively, I am not sure exactly what you are referring to. If the problem is that they are overpriced, that is a far lesser transgression.

The stuff that he promotes often has no evidence behind it, no good-faith reason to believe it, and often is nonsense which has been debunked. It's definitely worse.

I have had people who come with dubious herbal product when they come in for consult for suspected tumors. The radio, TV and internet is full of quacks promoting it. If it is not Dr. Oz, it will be someone else. So what if he makes his money, you guys can do too if you tried hard enough. Only you will realize that it is not as easy as it looks.

This is completely absurd. Just because there are other unethical people out there who would do what he does, that makes what he does OK? Seriously?

And then this weird challenge to try it? Why would any one want to debase themselves and try to mislead vulnerable and trusting people. You are not wrong that it's harder than it seems. But why would anyone want to do that. It's not much different from admiring someone from being a high-quality murderer or thief. Yes, he is quite good at this unethical thing he does. So what? Are you saying the only reason you don't spew garbage advice to the masses like Oz does is because you are not as good as monetizing it as he is?

I have met him in his pre-Oprah days and he was a charming nice guy. Maybe he has changed, maybe not. I don't care and don't have any jealousy or envy towards him.

I don't think anyone here is jealous of him. I suppose it's possible that people may envy the money he has. But if that is the standard, then I 'envy' Vladimir Putin. I don't envy either of them. I would not want to do the things they have done to get where they are. And I like money quite a bit.

[AR]

The irony of everyone saying how they hated the article and yet it has 36 (now 37) comments here. Do you think WCI is more or less likely to do more articles like this now?

Oh definitely more likely. I pointed this out earlier in the thread and I think WCI basically did himself.

Of course, I don't think it's a bad thing. Obviously, he doesn't either. And just because people feel the need to pile on Dr. Oz, doesn't mean that they have a problem with WCI's general approach to content.

[Tim]

Oh definitely more likely. I pointed this out earlier in the thread and I think WCI basically did himself.

Of course, I don't think it's a bad thing. Obviously, he doesn't either. And just because people feel the need to pile on Dr. Oz, doesn't mean that they have a problem with WCI's general approach to content.

WCI has a high tolerance for restricting content to beneficial financial topics. This is fluid, “beneficial to “ is undefined. A very understandable choice and fully disclosed.

[The White Coat Investor]

Far, far better than one more useless article on student loans, geographic arbitrage, crypto, FIRE, PSLF etc, etc.

Uh.....what are you hoping to read here exactly? Those are all pretty bread and butter topics here. So I hope you don't hate them too much.

[Kamban]

Uh.....what are you hoping to read here exactly? Those are all pretty bread and butter topics here. So I hope you don't hate them too much.

Yes they are bread and butter topics and appeal to a certain audience. But as you must have realized there is also an audience where the topics like student loans or PSLF does not apply to them or those that have been beaten to death a hundred times like FIRE. For that segment of the reader population this article was entertaining and well written.

As you have said earlier, appealing to all segments with different articles is the way to go. If people don't like certain articles it they can skip it. Josh's posts are down to earth, humorous, entertaining and will connect with a large swath of the readers than one that is dense and packed with graphs.

[Kamban]

Uh.....what are you hoping to read here exactly? Those are all pretty bread and butter topics here. So I hope you don't hate them too much.

and BTW, I enjoyed your mountaineering blog posts where you once did a 48 or 72 hour climbing expedition covering a few mountains. I am looking forward to some more of those.