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AOA demands retraction from Fox News anchor
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The American Optometric Association has demanded a retraction and apology from Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum for a comment she made on-air about optometrists prescribing painkillers and contributing to the opioid crisis.
In MacCallum’s interview with former drug czar Bill Bennett on Oct. 18, Bennett said the previous “war on drugs” resulted in a reduction in illegal drug use from 1979 to 1992 by more than 50%, and those tactics can be used again.
MacCallum stated that she believes prescription opioids remain a problem. As an example, she said her 20-year-old daughter was given a bottle of 30, which she felt was unnecessary, when her daughter had her wisdom teeth out.
Bennett agreed that opioids are still overprescribed, but that the bulk of the problem is illegal drugs.
MacCallum replied: “When you’ve got optometrists who can dispense pain killers like this when all they’re doing is reading an eye chart – and that happens in 10 states in this country – there’s a lot of levels to this problem to talk about.”
“The AOA is demanding an immediate retraction, correction and an apology” from MacCallum, “who baselessly and irresponsibly attributed aspects of opioid abuse to the expanding scope of practice of doctors of optometry ...” the AOA said in a statement provided to Primary Care Optometry News.
“Ms. MacCallum is wrong and is endangering public health by misleading the viewers of her broadcast about the essential role doctors of optometry have in eye health, vision care and assuring a patient’s overall health,” the group continued.
The AOA said it will educate MacCallum and others at Fox News about optometrists’ training and the “positive role the profession plays in fighting against opioid abuse and other urgent threats to public health.” – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO