UnitedHealthcare has filed a defamation lawsuit against The Guardian over a story discussing claims related to nursing home residents.
The article, published on May 21, asserted that the healthcare company secretly paid nursing homes and minimized hospital transfers to cut costs.
The lawsuit, lodged on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, claims The Guardian knowingly published “clearly false” information and attempted to gain media attention linked to the murder of former CEO Brian Thompson in New York last year.
UnitedHealthcare contends that The Guardian misrepresented internal communications, citing them out of context. The company also disputed certain portrayals regarding medical events mentioned in the article.
A representative for UnitedHealthcare stated, “The Guardian has made a deliberately misleading claim about our institutional special needs programs, prompting us to take action to protect important clinician-patient relationships, which are essential for high-quality care. Instead of engaging with the truth, The Guardian chose to run with a fabricated narrative.”
A spokesperson for The Guardian responded, emphasizing the thoroughness of their reporting and their readiness to defend themselves in court.
“Our article is based on extensive, independently sourced investigations that draw from numerous business and patient records, publicly filed lawsuits, and interviews with over 20 current and former employees of UnitedHealthcare, in addition to information provided by the company itself,” they stated.
The Guardian’s report claimed an internal email indicated that UnitedHealthcare supervisors had set a “budget” to manage nursing home patients, suggesting that there were monetary incentives involved in patient treatment.
The article also mentioned that leaked communications showed that some nursing homes were monitored for the number of patients who were “non-resuscitation” or “non-intubation” cases.
UnitedHealthcare’s lawsuit argued, “In our article, we presented a severely edited screenshot of internal emails, falsely labeling UnitedHealthcare residents as ‘non-resuscitation’ as part of a ‘cost-cutting tactic.’ This is undeniably defamatory.”
The company asserted that The Guardian was aware these claims were false yet chose to publish them to exploit the tragic murder of Brian Thompson.
Thompson was killed on a Manhattan sidewalk on December 4 of last year, and Luigi Mangione, aged 27, has been charged with his murder and has pleaded not guilty.
Recently, UnitedHealthcare has faced increasing scrutiny. In May, the Department of Justice announced an investigation into the company regarding Medicare fraud.
Consequently, shares of the insurance provider experienced a nearly 26% drop last month.
