CNN Must Go to Trial on Pediatric Surgeon’s Defamation Claims

CNN will have to defend against claims at trial brought by the head of St. Mary’s Hospital’s pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program, who asserts the network published a defamatory mortality rate that doesn’t accurately reflect the program.

A jury must decide whether the raw mortality rate calculated and published by CNN, which didn’t take into account the complexities of each individual case, is sufficient to satisfy Michael Black’s defamation claims, the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal said Wednesday, reversing a lower court’s summary judgment in favor of the network.

CNN published a story in 2015 stating the hospital’s death ...