Bill Scher: Dr. Gupta's Bias

[marmar]

from TomPaine.com:


Dr. Gupta's Bias


Submitted by Bill Scher on July 11, 2007 - 7:26pm.


Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta faced off yesterday on Larry King Live, following Moore's on-air criticism of Gupta's anti-SiCKO piece which accused Moore of "fudg some facts."

Moore, on his website, is ably taking Gupta to task on the factual points.

And as Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar notes, during Larry King Live, “Moore cites his source for every statistic offered ... yet Gupta ignores it, all of it, including Moore restating, again, that all of this was available in this email from June 28, 2007.”

But what was most striking was when Gupta showed the heart of his bias, a bias against having our government guarantee universal health care.

Gupta says to Moore, “You criticize the government so soundly. But you're willing to hand over one of our most precious commodities, our health care in this country, to the government.”

Moore rebutted, “I actually love our government ... It does a great job of administrating Social Security ... the problem is who we've put in power who holds office.”

Then in response, Gupta made a completely misleading attack on Medicare:

Michael, one of the best examples of health care, at least some sort of universal health care, would be Medicare. I think you would agree with that.

It's going to go bankrupt by 2019. It's going to be $28 trillion in debt by 2075...would you say that this is going to be still a working system 20 years from now? .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/dr_guptas_bias?tx=3

[madaboutharry]

1. The truth of the matter is

that Dr. Gupta is an elitist.

[Eric J in MN]

2. It's Bush's 2003 Prescription Drug Program which is hurting Medicare's finances.

This doesn't prove that government can't do anything.

It proves we shouldn't have Republicans in power.

[kcass1954]

9. And the pubbies never intended for that to succeed. It was always meant to be

a gift to their friends in the insurance and pharma industries.

[CottonBear]

3. Medicare works great. We jsut need to fund it properly and expand it to cover everyone.

Sanjay Gupta, while he may be an excellent neurosurgeon, is an extremely biased faux journalsit and has now been exposed as such.

[groovedaddy]

4. It still comes down to this:

We, as a nation, will either make health care a basic right (universal coverage) -or-
we will continue on our current path with healthcare being a privilege.
It seems that the other industrialized nations with universal coverage are not having the problems we are, which is a direct result of our private, privileged system where even the people who have insurance often do not get their needs met.
Medicare IS NOT universal. It is far more efficient and less costly than any private carrier.

[supernova]

5. "one of our most precious commodities, our health"

That's the money shot right there.

I think Gupta betrays himself here and blantantly at that.

As soon as you call health care a "commodity" that is a direct result of thinking that health care is just as malleable, just as fungable is any other manufactured product. It isn't. It is the well being of other human beings. It is not a commodity, it is a human right. :grr: :grr:

[Captain Hilts]

6. Ever notice all the l o n g commercials for pharmaceuticals during KO's show?

These folks have a Big influence on the networks.

[marmar]

7. Yup.... Ironic 'cause KO has Michael Moore on tonight.

:)

[wilt the stilt]

8. here's the reality

Most Doctors like Gupta go into it because of money. They care little about their patients. Why do you think there are so many procedures at the end of life. They see patients as cash registers. They are performing heart bypasses on people in their late eighties. Universal health would bring in another kind of person. People who care about people. Nurses care.

[indie_voter]

10. Sadly, I think you're not off mark

I'll never forget after my dad realized he wasn't going to make it and refused measures to prolong his life. They all acted as if he was already dead, stopped addressing him, talked about him to us, when he was lucid. DISGUSTING.

I was never so disgusted and will never view the medical profession the same way again.