NBCUniversal faces a defamation lawsuit after a judge ruled that MSNBC hosts, including Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace, made "verifiably false" statements that a Georgia doctor performed unnecessary hysterectomies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.
Plaintiff Dr. Mahendra Amin, an obstetrician gynecologist who provided medical care to women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center, was accused in 2020 of performing unnecessary hysterectomies by a nurse at the facility who made a whistleblower complaint.
NBC reporters Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley worked to verify the whistleblower’s claims, and eventually published an article despite initial skepticism from the network’s standards department. MSNBC quickly followed with a series of on-air reports in which the doctor was often referred to as the "uterus collector," but the whistleblower’s claims were never proven to be true.
"NBC investigated the whistleblower letter's accusations; that investigation did not corroborate the accusations and even undermined some; NBC republished the letter's accusations anyway," Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia wrote on June 26 in a 108-page summary.
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Wallace, who identified Amin by name, according to the court document, made "multiple statements" that were defamatory when she was the first MSNBC host to discuss the story on-air, the plaintiff claims.
"We are following breaking news today. It’s about an alarming new whistleblower complaint that alleges, quote, high numbers of female detainees, detained immigrants, at an ICE detention center in Georgia received questionable hysterectomies while in ICE custody," Wallace told "Deadline: White House" viewers.
Amin "performed only two hysterectomies on women detained at the facility," according to court documents.
That same evening, "All In With Chris Hayes" featured an interview with the whistleblower. Hayes’ MSNBC program also spoke with a lawyer who claims as many as 15 immigrant women were given full or partial hysterectomies or other procedures for which no medical indication existed.
Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star who reportedly earns $30 million per year despite only hosting her program once a week, amplified the whistleblower claims by passionately covering them on "The Rachel Maddow Show."
MSNBC regularly informed viewers of an ICE statement that "accusations will be fully investigated by an independent office, however, ICE vehemently disputes the implication that detainees are used for experimental medical procedures."
Maddow also included a statement from Amin, in which he vigorously denied the whistleblower’s claims.
According to the court document, Maddow "initially questioned reporting on the allegations," and suggested there was a lot of "jumping to conclusions around the complaint" but proceeded to cover it anyway. "All In with Chris Hayes" did a follow-up later in the week.
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Amin demanded that NBC retract the "false and defamatory" statements from the four MSNBC broadcasts to no avail. The United States Senate investigated the whistleblower claims but failed to confirm the accusations.
The judge detailed that "undisputed evidence has established" that "there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility," "Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees from the ICDC," and the doctor is not a "uterus collector."
"The Court must look to each of the statements in the context of the entire broadcast or social media post to assess the construction placed upon it by the average viewer," the judge wrote.
"Viewed in their entirety, the September 15, 2020 episodes of ‘Deadline: White House,’ ‘All In With Chris Hayes,’ and ‘The Rachel Maddow Show’ accuse Plaintiff of performing mass hysterectomies on detainee women. It does not matter that NBC did not make these accusations directly, but only republished the whistleblower letter’s allegations," the judge continued. "If accusations against a plaintiff are ‘based entirely on hearsay,’ ‘[t]he fact that the charges made were based upon hearsay in no manner relieves the defendant of liability. Charges based upon hearsay are the equivalent in law to direct charges.’"
Wood ordered a jury trial to determine if MSNBC engaged in "actual malice."
MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
