CNN has cancelled the long-running Dr. Drew On Call show just one week after Dr. Drew Pinsky made comments about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s health. The six-year-old show will air for the last time on September 22.
This comes just eight days after he made this comment about Clinton. He said he was:
“…Gravely concerned not just about her health, but her health care.”
In January, he falsely reported that she was suffering a “flare up” from some previous “brain injury.” This story turned out to be false.
Pinsky said:
“I regret the error and will make sure, in the future, to apply the rigorous editorial standards we have in place here. I apologize to our viewers and Secretary Clinton for falling short tonight.”
The episode has been removed from the network’s website, but the Washington Post has a transcript of it. Here it is, in part:
“What is going on with her health care? It’s bizarre. I got to tell you. Maybe they have reasons, but at a distance, it looks bizarre. There ought to be some sort of standard for people that are going to lead the country or are going to making these important decisions. Again, Hillary may be fine with all of this. I mean, it’s dangerous and it’s concerning, but you can see—and by the way, there were two other things that gravely concerned us. When she hit her head, she had to wear these prism glasses when she came out.”
“…. That is brain damage, and it’s affecting her balance. Now clearly, it hasn’t affected her cognition, but tell us a little more about that. That’s profound. And then number two, when they screened her for heart disease, again, they did an old-fashioned screen. It just seems like she’s getting care from somebody that she met in Arkansas when she was a kid, and you’ve got to wonder. You’ve got to wonder. It’s not so much that her health is a grave concern. It’s that the care she’s getting could make it a concern.”
Doctors are not supposed to speculate on a patient’s health when they have never seen the patient. Some viewers may perceive it as fact just because it is being delivered by a doctor. This is just another way to mudsling, and this doctor shouldn’t be feeding the fire.
Here is a video of Pinsky talking about Clinton’s public medical records:
Featured image via YouTube screenshot.
