UnitedHealtcare slapped The Guardian with a defamation lawsuit over a narrative by the publication associated to its billing for nursing residence residents.
At difficulty is The Guardian’s Could 21 story, which alleged that the well being care large made secret funds to nursing houses to cut back hospital transfers in an effort to save cash.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Delaware Superior Court docket late Wednesday, claims that The Guardian had knowlingly printed demonstrably false” data and tried to capitalize on media curiosity within the killing of its then-CEO Brian Thompson final 12 months in New York.
The well being care firm alleged that The Guardian used inside emails — which it printed excerpts from — have been quoted out of context. United Healtcare additionally disputed a few of The Guardian’s characterizations of medical occasions detailed in its exposé
“The Guardian knowingly published false and misleading claims about our Institutional Special Needs Program, forcing us to take action to protect the clinician-patient relationship that is crucial for delivering high-quality care,” a rep for UnitedHealthcare claimed. “The Guardian refused to engage with the truth and chose instead to print its predetermined narrative.”
A rep for The Guardian shot again at UnitedHeathcare’s lawsuit, telling The Publish that it stands by its Could 21 reporting and that it intends to defend itself in courtroom.
“The Guardian stands by its deeply-sourced, independent reporting, which is based on thousands of corporate and patient records, publicly filed lawsuits, declarations submitted to federal and state agencies, and interviews with more than 20 current and former UnitedHealth employees – as well as statements and information provided by UnitedHealth itself over several weeks,” the rep claimed.
“It’s outrageous that in response to factual reporting on the practice of secretly paying nursing homes to reduce hospitalizations for vulnerable patients, UnitedHealth is resorting to wildly misleading claims and intimidation tactics via the courts,” he added.
Within the story, The Guardian claimed inside emails revealed that UnitedHealth supervisors gave their groups “budgets” displaying what number of hospital admissions they’d “left” to make use of up on nursing residence sufferers.
The outlet additionally reported that leaked emails confirmed that the corporate additionally monitored nursing houses that had smaller numbers of sufferers with “do not resuscitate” – or DNR – and “do not intubate” orders of their recordsdata.
“The article used a heavily cropped screenshot of an internal UnitedHealth email to knowlingly and falsely accuse UnitedHealth of coercing nursing home residents into digning ‘do not rescusitate’ papers as a ‘cost cutting tactic… even when patients had clearly expressed a desire that all available treatments be used to keep them alive’ This is unquestionably defamatory,” the lawsuit alleged.
“The Guardian knew these accusations were false, but published them anyway, brazenly trying to capitalize on the tragic and shocking assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s then-CEO, Brian Thompson,” the go well with added.
homicide of its then-CEO Brian Thompson. UnitedHealth Group
Thompson was gunned down on a Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4 final 12 months.
Accused killer Luigi Mangione, 27, was arrested and has since pleaded not responsible to state and federal fees.
The embattled UnitedHealthcare has been within the scorching seat in latest weeks.
The Division of Justice revealed in Could that it’s investigating UnitedHealthcare for Medicare fraud.
Shares of the insurance coverage firm have cratered practically 26% within the final month, consequently.
