UnitedHealth hires top defamation law firm over ‘dangerous’ social media posts following CEO’s high-profile assassination

UnitedHealth Group Inc. has enlisted a prominent defamation law firm to combat what it claims were false and reckless social media posts about the company’s practices – just two months following the high-profile assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. 

The embattled insurance company hired Clare Locke, a Virginia-based boutique law firm, to fight accusations made by a Texas plastic surgeon on social media that “perpetuate inaccuracies, which is irresponsible and dangerous,” UnitedHealth said in a statement to Bloomberg Law.

Surgeon Elisabeth Potter claimed in a Jan. 7 Instagram post that UnitedHealthcare denied an in-patient stay after surgery related to breast cancer.

“I was interrupted by a call from United Healthcare – while the patient was already asleep on the operating table. They demanded information about her diagnosis and inpatient stay justification,” Potter said in her viral post. 

“I had to scrub out mid-surgery to call United, only to find that the person on the line didn’t even have access to the patient’s full medical information, despite the procedure already being pre-approved.” 

She concluded her post pressing that patients and providers “deserve better than this.”

“We should be focused on care, not bureaucracy,” the Austin-based surgeon said. 

UnitedHealthcare blasted Potter’s claims as “false,” adding that it had previously approved the patient’s care coverage, which included an overnight stay at the hospital, the outlet reported.

“There are no insurance related circumstances that would require a physician to step out of surgery and it would create potential safety risks if they were to do so,” the insurer said in a statement.

Potter’s attorney, Jessica Underwood, struck back arguing that her client’s statements about UnitedHealthcare were truthful, and she would “not be silenced” with attempts to threaten and harass her.

Potter took to Instagram on Sunday to reveal a letter she received from Clare Locke on Jan. 13 demanding she remove the video, post a public apology to UnitedHealthcare, and condemn any threats of violence toward the insurance company, which the law firm said stemmed from her social post.

The law firm also instructed her to contact media outlets that reported on her post to not only retract her claims but request all stories be taken down.

“The gaslighting and harassment in the letter which United sent me has not worked to do anything other than strengthen my resolve,” Potter wrote in her post in response to the letter.

“I will continue to speak honestly, clearly and plainly about the state of healthcare in the United States of America.”

The move comes just two months after UnitedHealthcare’s CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan.

Alleged assassin Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested?on murder charges?and is behind bars pending trial.

The Dec. 4 killing led to a social media firestorm of users?fawning over the alleged shooter, reveling in the tragedy and posting messages of resistance against insurance companies, with some taking aim at other high-profile healthcare execs.