NBCUniversal Settles Defamation Suit with Georgia Doctor Branded “Uterus Collector” by MSNBC

NBCUniversal has reached a settlement with Dr. Mahendra Amin, a Georgia-based gynecologist, resolving a $30 million defamation lawsuit stemming from MSNBC’s repeated labeling of him as a “uterus collector,” Fox News reports.

The lawsuit was officially dismissed Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

The dispute arose from a September 2020 NBC News article citing a whistleblower’s claims of unnecessary hysterectomies being performed on women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC). MSNBC subsequently aired a series of reports on programs like “Deadline: White House,” “All In with Chris Hayes,” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” where Dr. Amin was repeatedly referred to as a “uterus collector.”

Dr. Amin filed suit against NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, alleging that he was falsely portrayed as an unethical physician who performed abusive and non-consensual procedures on immigrant women, motivated by profit.

While the terms of the settlement remain confidential, Dr. Amin’s attorneys, Stacey Evans and Scott Grubman, released a statement expressing their satisfaction.

“We are pleased that Dr. Amin is able to move on from his years-long litigation against NBCUniversal,” they said. “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.”

The attorneys further emphasized Dr. Amin’s commitment to serving underserved communities, calling NBCUniversal’s portrayal of him “disgusting” and expressing relief that the case was settled.

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood had previously ruled that a jury could reasonably find actual malice in the statements made by MSNBC. She also determined that key elements of the narrative were demonstrably false, including the claim of “mass hysterectomies” or a high number of the procedures being performed at the ICDC. Judge Wood explicitly stated that “undisputed evidence has established” that Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees and that he is not a “uterus collector.”

The dismissal of the lawsuit comes just weeks before the scheduled trial, which was slated to begin on April 22. Had the case proceeded, prominent MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Nicolle Wallace, along with NBC News reporters and network executives, were expected to be called as witnesses.