Judge says Maddow, other MSNBC hosts made ‘verifiably false’ statements about doctor

quote:

---

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.

---

quote:

---

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.

---

quote:

---

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.

---

quote:

---

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."

---

quote:

---

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."

---

quote:

---

"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."

---