The defamation lawsuit between NBCUniversal and Georgia gynecologist Dr. Mahendra Amin was finalized in court after a settlement was reached in February.
NBCUniversal has finalized its defamation settlement with a Georgia doctor who was repeatedly called a “uterus collector” by MSNBC.
NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC (the latter is currently being spun off as a separate company), settled the $30 million lawsuit filed by Georgia gynecologist Dr. Mahendra Amin. Amin who was the subject of a report claiming he performed unnecessary hysterectomies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.
Both parties struck the settlement in February, but the lawsuit was officially dismissed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. The terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.
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“We are pleased that Dr. Amin is able to move on from his years-long litigation against NBCUniversal,” Amin’s attorneys, Stacey Evans and Scott Grubman, told Fox News Digital. “It is unfortunate that he had to sue to get confirmation of what was known all along—that he did not perform mass hysterectomies on women detained at Irwin County Detention Center. We are glad that the judge found those statements false as a matter of law because, in fact, Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies, both of which were medically necessary and consented to by the patients.”
“Dr. Amin is a dedicated physician who has dedicated his entire career to serving underserved communities. The recklessness of NBCUniversal to try to paint him as an evil doctor was disgusting and we are glad they finally settled the case,” they added.
Representatives from NBCUniversal and MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Amin was the subject of an NBC News article in September 2020, which cited a whistleblower’s claim that he was performing unneeded hysterectomies while providing medical care to women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center.
MSNBC quickly followed with a series of on-air reports on “Deadline: White House,” “All In with Chris Hayes” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” all running with the “uterus collector” label for Amin.
Amin filed a lawsuit against parent company NBCUniversal, alleging he was falsely portrayed as “an abusive, unethical, and dishonest physician who treated and operated on immigrant women in an abusive fashion, without consent, and motivated by profit instead of quality healthcare.”
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Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia previously ruled that a jury could reasonably find actual malice and the trial was set to begin April 22, in Waycross, Georgia. In light of the settlement agreement, the court canceled the scheduled trial.
“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 Wood wrote last year in a 108-page summary.
Amin believed “false and defamatory” statements published with actual malice that caused him significant damage were said six times on “Deadline: White House,” seven times on “All in with Chris Hayes” and 10 times on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes and Nicolle Wallace were among potential witnesses if it reached trial, along with NBC News reporters Jacob Soboroff and Julia Ainsley, MSNBC producer Denis Horgan, senior director of stands and practices Mary Lockhart, deputy head of standards Chris Scholl and others.
Judge Wood previously ruled that multiple statements were proven false, noting “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.”
