Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop has always been a paragon of integrity. How does THE SCRAPBOOK know this? Because that's what the self-described "health conscience of the nation" told THE WEEKLY STANDARD's Matt Labash last summer after the initial public offering of his eponymous Web site, drkoop.com. "When people think of me," said Koop, "they tell me that they think of integrity."
But Koop's reservoir of integrity occasionally runs low. As Labash reported in July, he was profiting from a medical-advice Web site that he barely read, let alone edited, and this after he had sanctimoniously criticized Reagan-administration colleagues for profiting from their time in government.
Last week, several top executives of drkoop.com, including Dr. Integrity himself, fessed up to the embarrassing fact that they had failed to abide by SEC rules for insiders selling stock. The New York Times further reported that the Web site was littered with advertising masquerading as expert medical advice, and that Koop's non-profit institute had received a million-dollar grant from a drug company. Koop, for his part, remains infatuated with his image. "I have never been bought," he told the Times, "I cannot be bought. I am an icon, and I have a reputation for honesty and integrity."
One of Koop's successors as surgeon general, Joycelyn Elders, had a reputation for extolling the delights of self-love. But it is Koop who would be well-advised to log onto his own Web site, so that he can ask a medical expert whether there's any cure for the solitary vice.