About Sanjay Gupta

Today over at RH Reality Check I have a piece on Sanjay Gupta, who has been floated as the probable candidate for surgeon general:

Since the Obama administration announced that CNN's Sanjay Gupta, one of People magazine's "sexiest men alive" in 2003, might be the next surgeon general, reactions have ranged from indifferent to outraged. Although Gupta is a neurosurgeon and has been in the public eye for years - he started his "House Call" show on CNN in 2004 - many have been scrambling to figure out what this man stands for.

Two separate controversies have already risen since Gupta's name has publicly been floated as the next surgeon general. First, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman lambasted Gupta's critique of Michael Moore's 2007 film Sicko, saying that Gupta's accusation that Moore "fudged the facts" was, well, just plain wrong. Then Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) wrote a letter to his fellow Democrats urging them to oppose Gupta as surgeon general. Conyers claimed that Gupta would face a "credibility problem," given his lack of experience in the National Health Service Corp and that "it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone ... who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America."

Many bloggers have already written about Gupta's lack of administrative experience, his opposition to marijuana reforms, and some of his biggest medical reporting mistakes. But little is known about where Gupta stands on reproductive health.

Go ahead an read the whole thing.