Conyers tries to keep Gupta from surgeon general post
By TODD SPANGLER
• FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF •
January 8, 2009
freep.com
WASHINGTON – House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter in Congress asking for help to discourage President-elect Barack Obama from nominating Novi native, CNN editor and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta to be his surgeon general.
Whether it will have much effect remains to be seen, of course. Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, is one of the longest-serving members of the House, but presidential nominations are confirmed (or not) by the Senate. And while there has been much media conjecture, there has been no official word that Gupta, 39, would definitely receive the nomination.
Lately, there have been some rumblings suggesting he might not be the right person. One such critique, from New York Times economic columnist and recent Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, took Gupta to task for accusing filmmaker (and Flint native) Michael Moore of “fudging his facts” in the movie “Sicko,” about the problems with America’s health care system.
In his letter, Conyers cited Krugman’s opposition and said 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 has been active in pushing his own candidate. Both he and Gov. Jennifer Granholm had suggested that Obama consider Dr. Herb Smitherman Jr., a Detroit public health advocate and assistant dean for community and urban health at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, for the position.
The surgeon general is the top public health spokesman for the nation and oversees the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which helps deliver health services and responds to public health crises.
Gupta went to college and medical school at the University of Michigan and is a neurosurgeon in Atlanta and on the faculty at Emory University’s medical school as well as being CNN’s medical correspondent. |
