NBCUniversal has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit after its network falsely accused a Georgia doctor of performing unauthorized hysterectomies on women detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. The $30 million case, which had been set for trial in April, exposed how the network ran with a sensational story despite internal doubts about its accuracy.
The lawsuit was filed by Dr. Mahendra Amin, who was the subject of a 2020 NBC report based on accusations from former nurse Dawn Wooten. NBC reporters Julia Ainsley, Jacob Soboroff and Danielle Silva wrote an article identifying Amin as a “uterus collector,” pushing claims that he performed excessive and unnecessary procedures on ICE detainees. MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace and Chris Hayes repeated these claims, further amplifying the false accusations.
NBC Universal has agreed to settle a $30m defamation lawsuit after its MSNBC talent lied and said a Georgia doctor was performing Mengele-style “mass hysterectomies” at an ICE facility during the first Trump administration.@chrislhayes, Rachel @maddow, Nicole Wallace, and… pic.twitter.com/zLLNcfmUHU
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 22, 2025
A Senate subcommittee later disproved these allegations, revealing that Amin had performed only two hysterectomies on detainees from 2017 to 2019, both of which were medically necessary and approved by ICE. Both patients had also signed consent forms, contradicting NBC’s reports.
NBC Settles $30M Defamation Lawsuit After Fake News About Doctor At ICE Facilities https://t.co/gIPZoALLB2
— ConservativeLibrarian (@ConserLibrarian) February 24, 2025
Court records show that NBC executives and reporters had serious concerns about Wooten’s credibility before publishing the story. Internal emails revealed that Chris Scholl, senior deputy head of Standards, warned that Wooten had “no evidence to back up her claims” and lacked firsthand knowledge of the allegations. Another NBC reporter admitted that ICE data would likely disprove Wooten’s claims, yet the network ran the story anyway.
Judge Lisa Godbet Wood found that NBC made 39 “verifiably false” statements about Amin and ruled that a jury could reasonably conclude the network acted with “actual malice,” a key legal standard for defamation cases.
The terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, but NBC’s decision to settle suggests the network sought to avoid further legal scrutiny over its reckless reporting.
