The ignorance of Sanjay Gupta...

[tibor75]

Sad and shocking that people probably listen to this clown for medical advice

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1002/11/ec.01.html

(regarding ClinTon's recent issues)


ROWN: And then the stent, Sanjay, do they have to be replaced after a period of time, or how does that work?

GUPTA: No, not typically. Typically once a stent is in, it stays in. It gets monitored sometimes even by a simple chest x-ray to make sure that it hasn't moved at all. The concern sometimes with these stents is can you get little blockages around the stents because you have a foreign body in the blood vessel there? But this is typically something you keep.


Uh, no. Stents are NEVER monitored with a chest xray. I almost never listen to him or any network news so I have no idea how often he acts like he knows what he is talking about when he clearly doesn't...but I"m sure this isn't an isolated event.

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[deleted87716]

He's a neurosurgeon. Anything he says about cardiology is probably fed to him by someone else. He's just a mouthpiece.

 

[tibor75]

He's a neurosurgeon. Anything he says about cardiology is probably fed to him by someone else. He's just a mouthpiece.

that is what I assumed, but no cardiologist would ever say "monitor stent with a chest xray." Leading me to believe that Gupta either just "wings it" or looks up his info on the internet. Either way, he's a clown.

 

[The Poet Sings]

what should he have said, then?

 

[cpants]

what should he have said, then?

Something that wasn't false.

 

[The Poet Sings]

Something that wasn't false.

look, i'm just a premed. so i'd like to know what he should have said, aka, what is the truth on the matter. it wouldn't have been that hard to just tell me that, instead of taking your time to state what i obviously got from the previous posts.

 

[deleted87716]

How 'bout something like, "Yes, stents can occlude. That's why it's important to for patients to make therapeutic lifestyle changes and take their medications as directed to control their blood pressure, cholesterol, and to help prevent blood clots. After all, a stent is just a very expensive Band-Aid. The real problem, cardiovascular disease, hasn't gone away."

 

[The Poet Sings]

How 'bout something like, "Yes, stents can occlude. That's why it's important to for patients to make therapeutic lifestyle changes and take their medications as directed to control their blood pressure, cholesterol, and to help prevent blood clots. After all, a stent is just a very expensive Band-Aid. The real problem, cardiovascular disease, hasn't gone away."

while i thank you for your genuine response, i was really asking more along the lines of what he should have said about stent monitoring, since it isn't just checked on an xray and that is what was pointed out as being wrong with his statement.

 

[Rendar5]

while i thank you for your genuine response, i was really asking more along the lines of what he should have said about stent monitoring, since it isn't just checked on an xray and that is what was pointed out as being wrong with his statement.

Stents dont' really show up on Chest X-Rays at all. you monitor it by history, and if somening cardiace sounds like it's happening, you can get an EKG, stress test, or cath.

 

[The Poet Sings]

Stents dont' really show up on Chest X-Rays at all. you monitor it by history, and if somening cardiace sounds like it's happening, you can get an EKG, stress test, or cath.

thanks :-D

 

[BrakngLyv]

I just came across this post, and I have to disagree with OP's general observations. Maybe in this case, you're correct the statement was incorrect and imprecise, but to make such a broad generalization, even referring to Gupta as a "clown" seems excessive. Particularly given you say this:

I almost never listen to him or any network news so I have no idea how often he acts like he knows what he is talking about when he clearly doesn't...but I"m sure this isn't an isolated event.

You admit you almost "never listen to him." So how can you be so sure that this is not an isolated incident? And how can you have formed such overarching judgments?

Gupta is well-trained, a neurosurgeon--operates once/week at Emory, and White House Fellow (one of 15/year). It's a competitive fellowship with highly-qualified candidates. Take a look at the profiles of other White House Fellows. Pretty impressive.

I highly doubt he did not know you can't see a stent on plain film. It was Breaking News, live TV--mistakes happen. People are talking in your ears, updating information, you don't have a script--it's not gonna be perfect 100% of the time. And reporters are trained to speak as if their audience has a 6th-8th grade education. When he's on CNN, he's not at a medical convention, he's talking to grandma at home on her couch, or some mother with kids--people who have no medical background--but are interested in health.

If you can do all that perfectly all the time--I'd give up your day job and get on TV--write some books. You'll make more money. Otherwise, give the guy a break.