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Colleagues want Dr. Oz off Columbia University staff

By Aileen Graef
Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies during a Senate Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing on "Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Products, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 2014. He had to defend his public backing of products to the comittee. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Mehmet Oz, host of the Dr. Oz Show, testifies during a Senate Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance Subcommittee hearing on "Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Products, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 2014. He had to defend his public backing of products to the comittee. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

NEW YORK, April 17 (UPI) -- Colleagues of Dr. Mehmet Oz have asked that the TV host be removed from the staff at Columbia University after he was widely discredited.

The group of 10 nationally known doctors sent the letter to Dr. Lee Goldman, dean of faculties for Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia.

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"He's a quack and a fake and a charlatan," said Dr. Henry Miller of Stanford, one of the signatories of the letter.

"Dr. Oz is guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments about what constitutes appropriate medical treatments, or both," the letter, obtained by the New York Daily News, concluded.

Oz has come under fire from medical professionals and even a congressional committee for pushing products with no health benefits and no real science to back his claims of support for them.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., called out Oz, saying, "I don't get why you say this stuff because you know it's not true."

"I bring the public information that will help them on their path to be their best selves," Oz responded in a statement through The Dr. Oz Show. "We provide multiple points of view, including mine, which is offered without conflict of interest. That doesn't sit well with certain agendas which distort the facts."

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Doug Levy, chief communications officer for Columbia University Medical Center, told USA Today the university supports freedom of expression in public discourse.

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