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President-elect Barack Obama is reported to have picked neurosurgeon and CNN Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta for his first choice for the nation’s Surgeon General. In response, Congressman John Conyers has authored a letter urging his fellow colleagues on the hill to oppose Gupta’s confirmation. If he does become the next US Surgeon General, Gupta would oversee 6,000 physician members of the U.S. Public Health Service. The position in question is chiefly responsible for educating and promoting public health objectives. Conyers’ letter joins Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman in publicly declaring Gupta to be unfit for the job. CNN’s TV doctor has indeed faced criticism over the years in medical journals and other publications for being entangled with major pharmaceutical companies. In one example, Pfizer was an admitted sponsor of the “Paging Dr. Gupta,” television program. Gupta was also notably involved in a highly publicized debate over Michael Moore’s documentary “SiCKO” on CNN accusing the filmmaker of “fudging the facts,” on the U.S. health care system. However, as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting noted, it’s was Gupta, not Moore, who had the faulty fact checks.

GUEST: Quentin Young, National Coordinator with the Physicians for a National Health Program