John Oliver sued by health-care exec for ‘out of context’ toilet hygiene segment
Global News
The doctor's lawyers claim Oliver made 'false accusations' that 'were designed to spark outrage.'
A health-care executive has slapped Last Week Tonight host John Oliver with a lawsuit, alleging the comedian-turned-talk-show-host defamed him in a 2024 episode by twisting his words and making “false accusations.”
The episode in question, which aired in April of last year, linked Dr. Brian Morley, a hospital administrator and former medical director for AmeriHealth Caritas in Iowa, to a drastic decrease in Medicaid services and accused him of thinking “it’s OK if people have s–t on them for days.”
The complaint, filed late last week in the New York Southern District Court, claims that Oliver and his team “entirely snipped out of context and manipulated two sentences of Morley’s testimony” during an administrative proceeding so that they could “accomplish their defamation,” reports Entertainment Weekly.
Morley’s lawyers claim Oliver made “false accusations” about Morley that “were designed to spark outrage.” They said Oliver’s “feigned outrage” was “fabricated for ratings and profits at the expense of Dr. Morley’s reputation and personal well-being.”
In the episode, which is available on YouTube, Oliver explored the state of Medicaid in the U.S., digging into the cost-cutting measures healthcare companies were taking and whether they were at the expense of patients’ health.
While explaining the role of managed care organizations (MCOs), Oliver shared a 2018 news snippet about an Iowa cerebral palsy patient named Louis who was struggling after his in-home care program was disrupted following cuts to Iowa’s Medicaid services and an MCO got involved in his care.
Oliver cited the interview with Louis and his mother and primary caregiver, Joann, on the struggles people with disabilities in Iowa faced after the state moved to for-profit MCOs, which Louis said left him in dirty diapers for hours.
This, according to the lawsuit, subsequently damaged Morley’s “reputation and personal well-being.” Morley “did not equate wiping poorly with leaving anyone sitting in their own feces for days,” and actually “testified to the opposite,” the lawsuit says.
