Top plastic surgeon accuses UnitedHealthcare of sending ‘threats’ over bombshell claims she made after CEO’s assassination
A leading plastic surgeon has accused UnitedHealthcare of sending her ‘threats’ after she made bombshell claims about the insurance giant.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, was one of many doctors who condemned UnitedHealthcare’s practices following the December assassination of CEO Brian Thompson.
She had claimed in a video posted to TikTok last month that she was in the middle of performing reconstructive surgery on a patient who survived breast cancer when she received a call from the insurance company.
The insurance representative allegedly said he needed information about the patient’s diagnosis to determine ‘if her inpatient stay should be justified.’
‘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 being pre-approved,’ Potter said in the video.
She later clarified in a follow-up post that there was a second surgeon in the operating room with her, who watched over the patient as she took the phone call.
But UnitedHealth Group Inc, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, has since hired the powerful Clarke Locke law firm, which demanded Potter retract her social media posts and apologize, she said.
Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, has accused UnitedHealthcare of sending her ‘threats’
She was one of several doctors who condemned the insurance giant following the December assassination of CEO Brian Thompson (pictured)
In a video posted just three days after Potter made the claims, she said she had received a call from the insurance giant about her post.
She said a representative for the company left her a message, and she tried to call back, but she was left on hold and was never able to reach the right person.
Weeks later, Potter said she received a demand letter from Clarke Locke – which markets itself as ‘the leading law firm in the United States’ and previously represented Dominion Voting Systems in obtaining a nearly $800million settlement from Fox News.
In the letter, which Potter posted in its entirety, the law firm accused the doctor of making an error in her patient’s orders and of allowing ‘threatening, harassing and intimidating comments’ on her social media pages that were directed at UHC.
The firm also claimed the representative from UnitedHealthcare was going to leave a message when they found out she was in surgery.
‘Your claims are false. You clearly know they are false. You falsely laid the blame for your office’s error on UnitedHealthcare publicly, unleashing a firestorm of dangerous misinformation,’ the letter read.
It went on to demand Potter ‘correct the record’ by deleting her posts, issuing a public apology to UHC, contact any media outlets that covered her posts to retract her claims and condemn ‘the threats of violence aimed at our client resulting from your posts.’
She had claimed in a video posted to TikTok at the time that she was in the middle of performing reconstructive breast cancer surgery on a patient who survived breast cancer when she received a call from the insurance company
In a video on Monday, Potter 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 then went on to lament the insurance company’s handling of her patient’s case, saying it was ‘even worse’ than the letter she received.
‘Staying overnight after major surgery isn’t optional – it’s medically necessary,’ Potter argued. ‘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,’ she continued, defending her actions. ‘So, with another surgeon in the OR, I scrubbed out and called them back.
‘But after all that? They denied her stay anyway,’ she claimed.
‘And instead of fixing their broken system, they sent me a legal threat for speaking out.’
In another video posted Monday, Potter acknowledged she found the insurance company’s 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’
The doctor then vowed to continue to fight and speak out against the insurance giant.
‘If I don’t speak up, I lose my integrity, my voice and the opportunity to make a difference,’ she said.
‘And while it’s intimidating to receive a letter like this from a company as powerful as UnitedHealthcare, I know where I stand.
‘Let me be clear: I stand by everything I said. 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.’
In the post sharing the letter, Potter also wrote: ‘My words were true and this situation was absurd.’
She was adamant in her statement that the patient’s overnight stay was necessary for ‘medical reasons’ and was ‘not an error on my part.’
‘The gaslighting and harassment in the letter which United sent me has not worked to do anything other than strengthen my resolve,’ she said.
‘I will continue to speak honestly, clearly and plainly about the state of healthcare in the United States of America.’
A spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group hit out at Potter’s post, in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying: ‘Intentionally spreading misinformation over social media is irresponsible and dangerous, and any physician who jeopardizes patient safety for social media clout undermines the trust in both the physician-patient relationship and health care in general.’
