Texas Appeals Court Throws Out Defamation Lawsuit Against ProPublica, Houston Chronicle

The news outlets’ 2018 investigation into famed Houston heart surgeon Bud Frazier provided a “fair, true, and impartial account,” the court said in its ruling, potentially bringing a close to the nearly six-year legal battle.

A Texas state appeals court on Thursday ordered the dismissal of a 2018 defamation lawsuit against ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle brought by famed Houston heart surgeon Dr. O.H. “Bud” Frazier, ruling that a 2018 investigation into the doctor was a “fair, true, and impartial account” of accusations against him.

Frazier was also ordered to pay the publications’ attorneys fees related to the appeal.

Frazier filed the suit in Harris County District Court, challenging a 2018 story and subsequent reporting that examined concerns with the doctor’s conduct, including that a hospital investigation had found that Frazier and his team implanted experimental heart pumps in patients who did not meet medical criteria to be included in clinical trials.
https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-appeals-court-dismisses-defamation-suit-propublica-houston-chronicle-frazier







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