In an exclusive interview, Stacey Evans, a Democrat and elected attorney, expressed her disappointment and disbelief at the manner in which her client was portrayed in the so-called "uterus collector" case by Rachel Maddow, a prominent figure on MSNBC.
Evans, who is also a regular viewer of MSNBC, described Maddow's handling of the case as "preposterous."
As reported by Fox News, NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, recently settled a $30 million lawsuit filed by Evans' client, Dr. Mahendra Amin, a Georgia-based gynecologist. Amin was the subject of a report alleging that he had performed unnecessary hysterectomies at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center.
The controversy began with an NBC News article in September 2020, which cited a whistleblower's claim that Amin was performing unnecessary hysterectomies while providing medical care to women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center. MSNBC quickly followed with a series of on-air reports. Shows such as "Deadline: White House," "All In with Chris Hayes," and "The Rachel Maddow Show" all used the derogatory label "uterus collector" for Amin. However, Evans believes that Maddow, the network's biggest star, was the one who crossed the line.
Evans told Fox News Digital, "It was Rachel Maddow who tried to tie Dr. Amin as the next chapter in the continuing saga, essentially, of mistreatment of immigrants by the Donald Trump administration. And she opened that block by talking about child separation policies and this former Trump administrator who had been tracking women's menstrual cycles just some really sick stuff and then to say that Dr. Amin was the next chapter in this saga, it was preposterous the way she did it."
Evans, who is not only a practicing attorney but also a State Representative for House District 57, which includes parts of Atlanta, expressed her disappointment at the recklessness of the media. She said, "Its disappointing that any media would be so reckless."
Evans, who watches the news with a "higher degree of skepticism" than most Americans due to her experience with defamation cases throughout her legal career, criticized MSNBC for its egregious conduct. She said, "What they did was so egregious, in my opinion, in continuing to go with these statements that he was a uterus collector, that he had performed mass hysterectomies when they had in their hands all the data they could muster was two hysterectomies, and they knew that."
Evans also suggested that MSNBC's anti-Trump coverage leading up to the 2020 presidential election influenced the network's eagerness to link Amin to Trump's immigration policy. She said, "Eight minutes later, according to the sort of tick-tock internal minutes that they took, eight minutes later, she's like, Yeah, let's go with it, and it's going to be the A block," Evans said.
Evans expressed her frustration at the recklessness of Maddow and her MSNBC colleagues in tarnishing Amin's reputation, who is an immigrant himself. She said, "Seeing her go from skepticism about whether the story was true to making it her A-block and tying someone who was a private doctor, tying him to Trump administration policies, and using that as her A-block in eight minutes, at least that's what it appeared to be on paper, was very, very, very disappointing."
Judge Lisa Godbey Wood of the Southern District of Georgia had previously ruled that a jury could reasonably find actual malice, and the trial was scheduled to begin on April 22, in Waycross, Georgia. However, the trial was canceled due to the settlement agreement.
Judge Wood also ruled that multiple statements were proven false, noting that "there were no mass hysterectomies or high numbers of hysterectomies at the facility," and "Dr. Amin performed only two hysterectomies on female detainees from the ICDC" and the doctor is not a "uterus collector."
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