Lunch at Michael’s with Dr. Oz

Dr. Mehmet Oz believes doctors should argue. In fact, he believes arguments between medical professionals are a significant responsibility. “There are four things any medical professional does,” he says. “Take care of your client. That’s No. 1. Uphold the Hippocratic Oath. Second, you police your field, try to make sure doctors aren’t harming people, that malpractice is being curtailed; things like that. No. 3, you want to make sure that you build on the wisdom of your teachers. The fourth part -- often forgotten -- is that you have a civic responsibility to speak out. And that’s risky. So when you see physicians speaking out on issues they care about passionately, even at personal risk, it’s actually part of what our calling is. Not doing that I feel holds back medicine. Doctors might fight about the details but our values are the same. We have a covenant with the public to always protect them. Health is worth fighting over, the same way you want politicians to fight over the economy. I expect to have those disagreements. It’s what you sign up for and it’s what our promise is to each other.”