Doctor Fires Back at ‘Absurd’ Letter from Law Firm Demanding She Delete Posts Criticizing UnitedHealthcare and Apologize
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UnitedHealth Group Inc., the parent company of the UnitedHealthcare company whose CEO was shot and killed last December, has hired a law firm known for high-profile defamation litigation to represent it in demanding a doctor retract social media posts accusing the insurer of denying coverage.
Brian Thompson’s assassination in Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024 has been described by authorities as a premeditated and targeted attack. Luigi Mangione, who has been charged with Thompson’s murder, had in his possession a ghost gun and suppressor and a manifesto that railed against the health insurance industry when he was arrested. In the wake of Thompson’s killing, many Americans posted their grievances about the country’s health insurance system online.
Recently, Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, published several posts on her Instagram and other social media accounts describing how UHC denied an overnight stay for her patient after a breast reconstruction surgery after cancer treatment.
“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,” said Potter said in the first video about this patient’s case. (In a follow-up post, she noted that there was a second surgeon in the operating room with the patient while she left to make the phone call.)
“Monitoring overnight is essential for these cases, yet insurance requires us to fight for what should be standard care,” wrote Potter in a caption to a video a few days later.
According to Potter, UHC called her to complain about her posts and left a message. She attempted to call back but was left on hold and never able to reach the right person.
UHC’s next communication, the doctor says, was in the form of a demand letter from the Clare Locke law firm, which markets itself as “the leading law firm in the United States.” Among its notable cases, Clare Locke represented Dominion Voting Systems in obtaining a nearly $800 million settlement against Fox News over claims made on its programs about the 2020 election.
In the letter, which Potter posted, the law firm accused the doctor of making an error in her patient orders and of allowing “threatening, harassing, and intimidating comments” on her social media posts that were directed at UHC.
The demand letter went on to demand that Potter “correct the record” by deleting her posts, issuing a public apology to UHC, contacting any media that had covered her posts to retract her claims, and to condemn “the threats of violence aimed at our client resulting from your posts.”
Potter was undeterred. In an Instagram video posted Feb. 3, the doctor acknowledged she found the demand letter “a bit intimidating” but vowed, “I’m not going to be silenced by threats when it comes to speaking out for my patients.”
She added that “even worse” was how UHC had denied her patient’s overnight stay:
Staying overnight after major surgery isn’t optional—it’s medically necessary. But UnitedHealthcare decided they know better than the doctors caring for the patient.
When they called me while I was operating, I knew that if I didn’t step out and respond immediately, they might deny her stay—leaving her with a massive bill. So, with another surgeon in the OR, I scrubbed out and called them back. But after all of that? They denied her stay anyway.
And instead of fixing their broken system, they sent me a legal threat for speaking out…
Denying an overnight stay that a doctor orders is dangerous. The doctor caring for the patient should be able to make these decisions without delay, pressure, or harassment.
If I don’t speak up, I lose—my integrity, my voice, and the opportunity to make a difference. And while it’s intimidating to receive a letter like this from a company as powerful as UnitedHealthcare, I know where I stand.
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“Let me be clear: I stand by everything I said,” Potter declared. “I told the truth. I was honest about what’s happening in our healthcare system. And I will not be silenced by legal threats when it comes to advocating for my patients and my ability to care for them.”
“My words were true and this situation was absurd,” Potter wrote in her follow-up post that shared the full letter from Clare Locke, adamant that the overnight stay was necessary for “medical reasons” and it was “not an error on my part” to request it.
“The gaslighting and harassment in the letter which United sent me has not worked to do anything other than strengthen my resolve,” she concluded. “I will continue to speak honestly, clearly and plainly about the state of healthcare in the United States of America.”
