CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has withdrawn his name for consideration as President Obama's Surgeon General. The network broke the news on The Situation Room Thursday. According to an administration official, Gupta was "under serious consideration" for the job. Gupta was approached by Obama's senior advisers last year about the post. He met with the president and embarked on the vetting process. But he was ambivalent about a government job that would force him to give up his medical practice while also taking a drastic pay cut. Gupta is chief of neurosurgery at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. His busy media career also includes appearances on CBS News and writing a medical column for Time magazine. He has also written a best-selling medical tome, "Chasing Life."
On the Situation Room, anchor Wolf Blitzer noted that Gupta "wants to spend more time with his family." On Thursday's Larry King Live, Gupta described withdrawing as "a really tough decision, and a long decision and a long process," adding that he "was incredibly flattered" and "humbled" to be considered.
In the end, he said, the timing just wasn't right.
"I think for me it really came down to a sense of timing more than anything else," he said. "You know, I have two daughters. Our third daughter is now imminent. In fact, I have my phone on right here, I might get called off the set."
