The confirmation hearing for Casey Means, Trump’s surgeon general pick, has been postponed
The Senate confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s pick for general surgeon, Dr. Casey Means, was postponed after she went into labor, a spokesman for the Senate committee set to consider her nomination said.
Means was supposed to appear virtually before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday morning for lawmakers to consider her nomination for the top health post.
If she takes on the role, Means will become the province’s leading public health spokesperson, with the authority to issue health warnings and advisories.
“We are very happy for Dr. Means and her family,” the Department of Health and Human Services said. Share to X. “This is one of the few times in life when it’s easy to ask for a Senate hearing to be postponed!”
Committee Chairman Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Los Angeles, also congratulated Means and her husband On X.
“There is no greater reward than being a parent,” he said. “I expect her hearing will be rescheduled when she is ready.”
Means’ nomination sparked controversy: A close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she has expressed skepticism of conventional medicine and promoted wellness products. She also does not have an active medical license.
Trump nominated her last May after he withdrew his previous choice, Dr. Janet Nesheiwat, a former medical contributor to Fox News.
Trump said he chose the means based on Kennedy’s recommendation. She was an advisor to Kennedy’s presidential campaign during his run for president, and an architect of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
In her 2024 book, “Good Energy,” Means describes leaving her medical residency program after becoming disillusioned with the medical system’s focus on disease management rather than treating patients. She earned her MD from Stanford University and completed nearly all of her five-year surgical residency at Oregon Health & Science University before dropping out.
“I got out of the hospital and began a journey to understand the real reasons why people get sick,” she wrote in her book.
Means’ medical license expires in January 2024 — a topic that was expected to come up at the hearing before it was postponed.
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served during the first Trump administration, Argue Completing a residency and having a valid medical license are implicit legal requirements for this role, as surgeons general oversee the commissioning body of the Public Health Service—a federal branch of public health that requires its employees to have medical licenses.
Means did not respond to a request for comment before the hearing expected on Thursday.
Emily Hilliard, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services “Means’ credentials, research background, and experience in public life give her the right ideas to be the Surgeon General who helps ensure America never again becomes the sickest nation on Earth,” she said in a statement.
I mean, previous comments about childhood vaccinations It also received attention. She wrote in May In her newsletter The “overall burden” of the current vaccine schedule “causes health deterioration in vulnerable children,” and she linked to a subreddit post suggesting that vaccines cause autism — a claim repeatedly debunked by scientific evidence.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is a doctor and a proponent of vaccines. During Kennedy’s confirmation process, Cassidy admitted hesitation but ended up offering Kennedy critical support.
I mean too Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson said last year That birth control pills are “prescribed like candy.” She wrote in her newsletter that hormonal contraception has “terrifying health risks.” (Decades of research have shown that it is safe for most people, and that serious complications are rare, although some studies have determined A slight increase in the risk of breast cancer In women who take birth control pills.)
Taken together, these positions have raised concern among some public health experts that Means may use her potential platform to spread misinformation.
“Casey Means has built her career attacking contraception, vaccines, and women’s autonomy — all while profiting from misinformation and health fads,” Dr. Dara Kass, former regional director of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration, said in a statement. “The Senate must reject this dangerous and unqualified nominee.”
However, Means has gained popularity in health circles because of its messages about the outsized corporate influence in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Her book claims that people are able to “improve and lengthen their lives” using “simple principles that doctors don’t teach in medical schools” — specifically, eating healthier, getting more sleep and physical activity, and understanding the underlying risks of disease.
Many public health experts agree that renewed interest in healthy diets and lifestyles is warranted, although some question the specific solutions Means has championed through her work.
means Co-founded a company It’s called Levels, which helps people monitor their blood glucose, and also sells supplements, teas and other health products on social media. Investigation by Associated Press I found that the methods sometimes failed to disclose the potential for profit or benefit from sales.
means I signed an ethics agreement In September, she stated that she would resign from her consulting position at Levels and would stop promoting her book, producing her newsletter, and making monetized social media posts.
Dr. Richard Carmona, who was surgeon general from 2002 to 2006 under President George W. Bush, said he was concerned about the nominee who had not completed her medical training and had never held a leadership role in medicine.
“As surgeon general, I want to make sure it’s someone with the appropriate training, experience, integrity and knowledge to deal with the complexities of the United States and our interaction with the rest of the world,” he said. “There’s no box that you check that is relevant to the issues we’re dealing with today.”
Marion Nestle, professor emeritus of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said Means should be judged by her actions in office, not on the basis that she did not complete her residency. Nestlé said that if Means is confirmed, it could use its platform to promote healthy diets.
“She can eat ultra-processed foods. That would be great,” Nestle said.
But Nestlé warned that the promotion of nutritional supplements would not be supported by scientific research.
“I’m in favor of health. I’m not in favor of health products, because I don’t think there’s much evidence that they work,” she said.