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Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon and media personality on health-related issues based in Atlanta, Georgia, who can eat a bag of dicks. An assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, he is best known as CNN's chief medical correspondent, hosting the network's weekend health program House Call with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and making frequent appearances on their American Morning, Larry King Live, and Anderson Cooper 360° programs. His reports from Charity Hospital in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina helped "Charity Hospital" win a 2006 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Feature Story in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast". From 1997 to 1998, he served as one of fifteen White House Fellows, primarily as an advisor to Hillary Clinton. Additionally, Gupta publishes a column in Time Magazine and is a special correspondent for CBS News. His book Chasing Life was a New York Times and national bestseller. In January 2009, it was reported that Gupta was offered the position of Surgeon General in the Obama administration. In March 2009, Gupta withdrew his name from consideration for the post.

Biography

Youth

Gupta grew up in Template:City-state, in suburban Detroit, and received his undergraduate degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical Center. He was part of Inteflex, a 6-year program combining pre-medical and medical school that accepted students directly from high school. As a result of entering the Inteflex program, he never had to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), unlike most other doctors. He completed his residency in neurological surgery within the University of Michigan Health System..His parents, Subhash and Damyanti Gupta, moved from India to Michigan to work as engineers for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn in the 1960s. His mother was the first female engineer to work in Ford Motor Company.

Sanjay is married to Rebecca Olson Gupta; they have three children. Sanjay's proposal: "I wrote her a poem and in the last line asked her to marry me," says Gupta. "Watching her read it, I was very nervous—it was over a page long." Adds Olson, a family law attorney, "He was down on one knee and asking me to marry him before I even got to the end!"

Broadcast journalism

In 2003, Gupta traveled to Iraq to cover the medical aspects of 2003 invasion of Iraq. While in Iraq, Gupta performed emergency surgery on both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Gupta was embedded with a Navy medical unit at the time. A Marine named Jesus Vidana suffered a severe head injury, and the Marines asked for Gupta's assistance because of his background in neurosurgery. Vidana survived and was sent back to the United States for rehabilitation.

Gupta was named one of the Sexiest Men of 2003 by People magazine.

In December 2006, CBS News president Sean McManus negotiated a deal with CNN that will have Gupta file up to 10 reports a year for the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" and "60 Minutes" while remaining CNN’s chief medical correspondent and associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital.

On October 14, 2007, Gupta guest-hosted a health episode of CBS News Sunday Morning as its regular host, Charles Osgood, was on vacation.

Surgeon General candidate

On January 6, 2009, CNN announced that Gupta had been offered the position of Surgeon General by President Barack Obama.

Some doctors said that his communication skills and high profile would allow him to highlight medical issues and prioritize medical reform. However, others raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest with drug companies who have sponsored his broadcasts and his lack of skepticism in weighing the costs and benefits of medical treatments.

Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), wrote a letter opposing Gupta's nomination. Conyers supports a single-payer health care system, the sort that Conyers' filmmaker friend Michael Moore advocated in his documentary Sicko; Gupta has criticized Moore and the film.

Others, such as liberal commentator Jane Hamsher, defended the appointment, noting that Gupta's responsibilities as a surgeon general would be not that different from those of his CNN position, and that Gupta's media presence would make him ideal for the position. From the medical community, Donna Wright, of Creative Health Care Management, a regular commentator on medicine and politics, also defended the appointment on the grounds of his media presence, combined with his medical qualifications, which she viewed as an ideal combination for the post of surgeon general. Likewise, Fred Sanfilippo, executive vice president for health affairs at Emory University, supported Gupta’s nomination by issuing a press release saying, "He has the character, training, intelligence and communications skills needed to help the United States improve its health and health care delivery systems in the next Administration." The American Council on Exercise, listed by PR Newswire as "America's leading authority on fitness and one of the largest fitness certification, education and training organizations in the world", endorsed the nomination of Gupta "because of his passion for inspiring Americans to lead healthier, more active lives." The ACE sent a letter of support to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders also supported Gupta's nomination, saying "He has enough well-trained, well-qualified public health people to teach him the things he needs to do the job." In March 2009 Gupta withdrew his name from consideration for the post, citing his family and his career.

Medical practice

Gupta is a Emory Healthcare general neurosurgeon at Grady Memorial Hospital and has worked on spine, trauma and 3-D-image-guided operations. He has published medical journal articles on percutaneous pedicle screw placement, brain tumors, and spinal cord abnormalities. His medical license in Georgia has been renewed to October 31, 2011.

Controversy

Criticism of reporting

Some journalists and journalism professors specializing in health care have criticized Gupta's coverage. Trudy Lieberman, a regular Nation contributor on healthcare and director of the health and medicine reporting program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism reviewed Gupta's "ineptitude" in reporting on the McCain health plan. Lieberman criticized Gupta for relying on insurance industry statistics, and a health expert quoted by Lieberman said that Gupta's reporting “gives a gross oversimplification."

Peter Aldhous criticized Gupta's "enthusiasm for many forms of medical screening - even when the scientific evidence indicates that it may not benefit patients." He and other medical journalists accuse him of a "pro-screening bias" in promoting widespread electrocardiogram and prostate cancer screening, even though medical authorities like the US Preventive Services Task Force recommend against it.

Others have criticized Gupta's promotion of Merck's cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, without disclosing the financial arrangements between CNN and Merck.

Gary Schwitzer, professor of health journalism at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, has regularly criticized Gupta's reporting.

Michael Moore dispute

A July 9, 2007, broadcast of CNN's The Situation Room aired a fact check segment by Gupta on Michael Moore's 2007 film Sicko in which Gupta stated that Moore had "fudged facts".

Immediately following the segment, Moore was interviewed live on CNN by Wolf Blitzer. Moore said that Gupta's report was inaccurate and biased, and Moore later posted a detailed response on his website. Moore accused CNN and Gupta of being biased in favor of the drug industry because most of the sponsors for their medical coverage, including Gupta's reports, were drug companies.

On July 10, 2007, Gupta debated Moore on Larry King Live; a few days later on July 15, CNN released a statement in response to Michael Moore's rebuttal. In it, they apologized for an error in their on-air report, having stated that in the film Moore reported Cuba spends $25 per person for health care when the film actually gave that number as $251. CNN attributed this to a transcription error. CNN defended the rest of Gupta's report and issued a point-by-point response to Moore's response in which CNN contended that Moore's comparison of data from different sources in different years was in effect "cherry picking" results, at the cost of statistical accuracy.

However, Michael Moore re-explains the entire issue on his website. First, Dr. Gupta's allegation, "Well, I mean, he pulls $251 from this BBC unsourced report ... Where you pulled the $251 number was a BBC report, which, by the way, stated that the per capita spending in the United States was $5,700. You chose not to use the $5,700 from one report and chose to go to a totally different report and you're sort of cherry picking data from different reports ... Well, why didn't you use the $5,700 number from the BBC report?" To which Moore responds by explaining, "Actually, the number 'Sicko' cited for per capita Cuban spending on health care - $251, a number widely cited by the BBC and other outlets - comes from the United Nations Human Development Report, helpfully linked on our website. Here it is again: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/52.html. That UN report does list American health care spending as only $5,700, but it's a few years old. Since then, the U.S. government has updated its projections for health care spending, to $7,498 in 2007. So we used that number. It's the most recent, and comes right from the Department of Health and Human Services. If the Cuban government gave a figure on 2007 projected health spending, we'd have used it."

And this number that Moore uses ($7,498) is very close to the actual number that is verifiable ($7,421) on the Department of Health and Human Services website under National Health Expenditure Per Capita Projection for the 2007 on Table 1 of pg. 3.

Later, the New York Times article "The Trouble with Sanjay Gupta" by Paul Krugman states that Moore's numbers were in fact correct and there was no "fudging" of data as Dr. Gupta alleged.

CNN also admitted that, in his debate with Moore, Gupta had afterwards committed a second error, mistakenly contesting Moore's observation that Gupta's one on-air expert was now associated with a Republican-linked think tank rather than a university. Gupta's exact language, according to the official CNN transcript, was "he is with a think tank and his only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University."

See also

• Health care in the United States
• Health care reform in the United States
• Healthcare-NOW!
• Single-payer health care
• United States National Health Care Act
• Universal health care
• Emory Healthcare
• Grady Memorial Hospital
• Indian American

References

1. ^ Kurtz, Howard (2009-01-06). "Obama Wants Journalist Gupta for Surgeon General". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
2. ^ "CNN Programs: Anchors/Reporters: Sanjay Gupta". CNN.
3. "CNN Medical Correspondent to Serve as Pritzker Commencement Speaker". Pritzker School of Medicine. May 23, 2007.
4. ^ "Gupta opts out of surgeon general consideration". cnn.com. 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2009-3-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
5. Gupta, Sanjay (2007-05-22). "Gupta: Saving lives on the front lines". CNN. Retrieved 2009-01-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
6. "Sources: CNN's Gupta approached for surgeon general". CNN. 2008-01-06. Retrieved 2009-01-08. The Obama transition team approached Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, about becoming U.S. surgeon general, according to sources inside the transition and at CNN. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
7. Neergaard, Lauran (2009-01-07). "CNN: Gupta approached about surgeon general post". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-01-08. The pair raised questions about drug-company sponsorship of some programs Gupta hosted and urged careful examination of any potential conflicts of interest. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
8. Conyers’s opposition to Gupta is connected to Michael MooreBy Molly K. Hooper 01/08/09
9. Hamsher, Jane (2009-01-09). "In Defense of the Sanjay Gupta Appointment". alternet.org. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
10. Wright, Donna (2009-01-13). "Gupta good choice for surgeon general". bradenton.com. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
11. White, Christina (2009-01-19). "Gupta Named Top U.S. Doctor". emorywheel.com. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
12. Staff, PR Newswire (2009-01-27). "American Council on Exercise (ACE) Endorses Appointment of Dr. Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General of the United States". prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
14. Foley, Kevin T.; Gupta, Sanjay K.; Justis, Jeff R.; Sherman, Michael C. (2001). "Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation of the lumbar spine" (PDF). Neurosurgical Focus. 10 (4). American Association of Neurological Surgeons: E10. doi:10.3171/foc.2001.10.4.11. ISSN 1092-0684. PMID 16732626. Retrieved 2009-01-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. Sanjay K., Kevin T.; Gupta (2002). "Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation of the lumbar spine: preliminary clinical results" (PDF). Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. 97 (1). American Association of Neurological Surgeons: 7–12. ISSN 1547-5654. PMID 12120655. Retrieved 2009-01-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
16. Tumialán, Luis M.; Walkup, Raymond R.; Gupta, Sanjay K. (2008). "Minimally invasive retrieval of a bullet from the L5-S1 neural foramina after transperitoneal gunshot wound: technical report". The Spine Journal. Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2008.03.008. ISSN 1529-9430. PMID 18468958. Retrieved 2009-01-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
17. Tumialán, Luis M.; Lin, Franklin; Gupta, Sanjay K. (2006). "Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis causing Serratia marcescens and Proteus mirabilis ventriculoperitoneal shunt infection. Case report" (PDF). Journal of Neurosurgery. 105 (2). American Association of Neurological Surgeons: 320–324. doi:10.3171/jns.2006.105.2.320. ISSN 0022-3085. PMID 17219841. Retrieved 2009-01-08. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
18. "Trudy Lieberman's biography page". The Nation. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
19. kjh paging_dr_gupta.php?page=all Campaign Desk, Paging Dr. Gupta, How CNN’s doc misdiagnosed McCain’s health plan Columbia Journalism Review, October 27, 2008, By Trudy Lieberman
20. Should a TV news doctor be US surgeon general? Peter Aldhous, New Scientist blog, January 8, 2009
21. CNN's Sanjay Gupta, Laura Bush and the Marketing of Merck's Gardasil: Doctoring the News By PAM MARTENS, Counterpunch, July 20, 2007
22. CNN's one-sided view of mammography controversy, Schwitzer health news blog, April 08, 2007
23. "Sanjay Gupta" at Schwitzer health news blog
24. CNN Transcripts. THE SITUATION ROOM. CNN's Dr. Gupta looks at "Sicko" and Some Facts Are Incorrect. Aired July 9, 2007 - 1900ET
25. "'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight". Michael Moore. 2007-07-10. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
26. "'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight -- Again". Michael Moore. 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
27. "National Health Expenditures and Selected Economic Indicators, Levels and Annual Percent Change: Calendar Years 2003-2018" (PDF). HHS. 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
28. Paul Krugman (2009-01-06). "The Trouble with Sanjay Gupta". Retrieved 2009-01-06.
29. Media Matters (2007-07-11). "In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"" (incl. Quicktime video excerpt from "Larry King Live"). Retrieved 2007-10-13.
30. Bauder, David. "Michael Moore and CNN trade angry accusations over 'Sicko' accuracy". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
31. Droganes, Constance. "Michael Moore makes CNN blush". CTV.ca. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
32. "Transcript: Moore & Gupta: "Sicko" Controversy; Crazy Love". Larry King Live. CNN. July 10, 2007.

External links

• Sanjay Gupta CNN biography
• Interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
• Paging Dr. Gupta: - Blogs from CNN.com
• Web page at Emory Neurosurgery department
• Sanjay Gupta physician profile - Emory Neurosurgery

Template:Persondata

• 1969 births
• Living people
• American columnists
• American Hindus
• American physicians
• Americans of Indian descent
• CNN
• Emory University faculty
• Neurosurgeons
• People from Oakland County, Michigan
• University of Michigan alumni
• American medical journalists