The nation was transfixed by the December murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the subsequent arrest of Luigi Mangione, which seemed to implicate the American healthcare system as a motive for the attack. It also spurred a ton of vitriol against the industry — and UnitedHealthcare specifically.
Now the company is fighting back against social media posts it says are inaccurate.
The company has hired defamation boutique law firm Clare Locke, according to reporting by Bloomberg Law. The firm has already sent a demand letter to a doctor that is using her social media platform to speak out against the company. Dr. Elisabeth Potter posted on Instagram that UnitedHealth denied a patient’s post-surgery stay saying, “I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United, only to find that the person on the line didn’t even have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved.”
According to Potter’s legal team, they’ll be leaning into the truth as a defense:
One of Potter’s attorneys, Jessica Underwood, said Potter received a Jan. 13 letter from Clare Locke demanding that she correct her posts, apologize to UnitedHealth and condemn threats of violence that the law firm said resulted from the posts.
But Underwood, of the law firm Nix Patterson, said Potter’s statements about the insurer were truthful. “Dr. Potter will not be silenced by UnitedHealthcare’s attempts to threaten and harass her,” Underwood said.
According to UnitedHealthcare, “Dr. Potter’s claims that she was called out of surgery are false. There are no insurance related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so.”
This isn’t the first time post-Thompson’s death that UnitedHealthcare has taken an aggressive legal stance. But even the best lawyering can’t stop the zeitgeist.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
The post After CEO Is Gunned Down, UnitedHealthcare Lawyers Up To Fight Against Getting Dragged Online appeared first on Above the Law.
The nation was transfixed by the December murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the subsequent arrest of Luigi Mangione, which seemed to implicate the American healthcare system as a motive for the attack. It also spurred a ton of vitriol against the industry — and UnitedHealthcare specifically.
Now the company is fighting back against social media posts it says are inaccurate.
The company has hired defamation boutique law firm Clare Locke, according to reporting by Bloomberg Law. The firm has already sent a demand letter to a doctor that is using her social media platform to speak out against the company. Dr. Elisabeth Potter posted on Instagram that UnitedHealth denied a patient’s post-surgery stay saying, “I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United, only to find that the person on the line didn’t even have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved.”
According to Potter’s legal team, they’ll be leaning into the truth as a defense:
One of Potter’s attorneys, Jessica Underwood, said Potter received a Jan. 13 letter from Clare Locke demanding that she correct her posts, apologize to UnitedHealth and condemn threats of violence that the law firm said resulted from the posts.
But Underwood, of the law firm Nix Patterson, said Potter’s statements about the insurer were truthful. “Dr. Potter will not be silenced by UnitedHealthcare’s attempts to threaten and harass her,” Underwood said.
According to UnitedHealthcare, “Dr. Potter’s claims that she was called out of surgery are false. There are no insurance related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so.”
This isn’t the first time post-Thompson’s death that UnitedHealthcare has taken an aggressive legal stance. But even the best lawyering can’t stop the zeitgeist.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
