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Sanjay Gupta's House problem: Conyers

By Mark Silva / Chicago Tribune

Sanjay Gupta may have one more House call to make.

Before he heads to Capitol Hill for confirmation as surgeon general -- though the problem that the well-known tele-doctor has may not be so much in the Senate, where President-elect Barack Obama's candidate should get a light check-up for confirmation. His problem is in the House Judiciary Committee, apparently.

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the committee, has circulated a letter to colleagues suggesting that Obama's prescription for surgeon general is misguided. The Huffington Post has picked up on the anti-Gupta missive that Conyers has fired.

Columnist Paul Krugman, a prize-winning economist, already has spoken out against Gupta, star medical correspondent for CNN and CBS. "I join in opposition with respected Noble Peace Prize award wining economist Paul Krugman, who has very serious concerns with having Dr. Gupta be the nation's Surgeon General.," Conyers writes.

"Also, there are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr. Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the United States Public Health Service," Conyers writes.

"Gerard M. Farrel, executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association, stated in the Jan. 7, 2008 Washington Post that Dr. Gupta will certainly face a 'credibility gap' because he never served in the National Health Service Corp, and furthermore, does not have the "experience or qualifications to be the leader of the nation's public health service." Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this 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."

Yet, as the Huffpost notes, at least one esteemed medical professional believes Gupta is an inspired pick: Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who is a physician, notes that "Gupta's responsibilities would be much the same as those in his current job: Explaining medical issues of public concern in a manner that the public could understand."

Krugman's problems have to do with Gupta accusing filmmaker Michael Moore of inaccuracies in his documentary on the health care industry, "when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong."

Gupta and CNN acknowledged making a mistake and apologized on air, the HuffPost notes.